The Role of a Coffeehouse in the Social Life of Ottoman Towns with a Special Focus on the New Kahva of Mostar, opened in 1604/05.

Abstract

A coffeehouse is a social institution that emerged in the Arab world at the beginning of the 16th century and spread very quickly to other parts of the Islamic world. The first coffeehouse in Istanbul was opened in the middle of the 16th century, and the number of coffeehouses just grew in the capital as well as in other parts of the Ottoman Empire. The first coffeehouses in the Bosnian eyalet were opened as of the last decades of the 16th century and very quickly became an integral part of public and social life of many towns. Coffeehouses or kahvas, as they were called in Bosnia, were opened in main streets, merchant quarters, neighborhoods, inns, as well as private areas such as state dignitaries’ courts and houses of wealthier citizens. Some were bigger, better decorated and classy, whereas some were just humble, and there were different types of coffeehouses to match the preferred style of customers. Like other towns, Mostar had a variety of coffeehouses, and therefore we plan to focus on the one described by two Mostar poets in their respective poems, written while the coffeehouse was being built. These two poems were found in a manuscript collection and from their content we can see that the coffeehouse was built at the beginning of the 17th century, and that it was built by the famous Mostar benefactor Ibrahim-aga Šarić. This paper plans to disclose more information about the coffeehouse, its possible location, its character, as well as its role in the social life of then Mostar.