Sarajevo through History › Ottoman period › Inat kuca – Spite House
Inat kuca – Spite House
Inat kuca – Spite House
Construction in Sarajevo, as in some other cities, can be quite interesting and inspiring. However, the Spite House is really unique. At the end of the 19th century, the Austro-Hungarians decided to build the City Hall and a tram station at Mustaj-Pasha’s Mejdan.
Location: Old Town
At this exact site, just next to the Seher-Cehaja’s Bridge, was a house which interfered with the plan.

They offered the house owner, old Benderija, money to buy off the house but he refused. Benjamin von Kállay, the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Finances started negotiating with the owner to sell the house and offered double the original sum but the owner still refused. Eventually, the Austro-Hungarians agreed to move the house, brick by brick, to the opposite river bank and give a bag of ducats to old Benderija. The story and the house became famous.

Out of spite and stubbornness of the owner, the house became known as the Spite House. Today, it is a popular national restaurant, and a protected cultural and historical heritage site.
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