The Balkans

Sarajevo as seen in the photographs of Paul Schulz taken between 1937 and 1945.

Source: Deutsche Fototek

Traditional Balkan clothing from all around the region

The Aromanian Manaki brothers, Yanaki and Milton, born in Avdella (present-day Greece), were photography and cinema pioneers of the Balkan Peninsula and the Ottoman Empire. They were the first to bring a film camera and create a motion picture in the city of Bitola (present-day North Macedonia), an economic and cultural center of Ottoman Rumelia. Their first film, The Weavers, was a 60-second documentary of their grandmother spinning and weaving; this is regarded as the first motion picture shot in the Balkans.

They made a name for themselves in their local photography studio and, in 1906, they received an invitation from King Carol I of Romania to participate in the Bucharest Jubilee Exhibition, where they won a gold medal for their collection and were asked to be the King's official photographers. They became the official photographers of the Ottoman Sultan and the King of Yugoslavia Alexander Karađorđević, in 1911 and 1929, respectively. In 1921 they built an outdoor cinema named Manaki and later transformed it into a movie theater, which was destroyed by a fire in 1939.

The National Archive of North Macedonia preserves more than 17,000 photos and over 2,000 meters of movie film from the brothers Manaki. The brothers documented a number of historical events—the Ilinden Uprising, the Balkan Wars, World War I, and the development of Manastir as a consulate and military center of the Ottoman Empire.

Sarajevo as seen in the photographs of Paul Schulz taken between 1937 and 1945.

Source: Deutsche Fototek

Old photographs of Skopje, North Macedonia 🇲🇰

Part 3

Giuseppe Massani was an Italian photographer. He strongly supported Italian fαscιsm and became known for photo albums promoting Benito Mussolini and fαsciςt Italy. After Albania was invaded by Italian forces in 1939 and incorporated into Mussolini’s empire, Massani travelled across Albania in 1940, likely with support from the Italian government. He produced highly regarded black-and-white photographs of the country, which were published in the book Albania: testo e foto di Giuseppe Massani.

Source: http://www.albanianphotography.net/

I always thought Yugoslav architecture was so interesting. So many unique designs, especially the spomeniks, and so much imagination, variety etc. It looked good, futuristic and unfortunately now we don't do maintenance on our buildings so they end up looking sad and dystopian.

All photos were taken from the "Once Upon a Time in Yugoslavia" blog. https://igoyugo.tumblr.com/about

Portraits by Dimitar Karastoyanov. Taken in the late 19th - early 20th century.

He was born in 1856 into the Karastoyanov family from Samokov, one of the most important families in the history of Bulgarian photography. He learned the craft from his father, Atanas Karastoyanov, who is regarded as one of the founders of photography in Bulgaria. Atanas worked for many years in Belgrade as a court photographer, where Dimitar and his brother Ivan Karastoyanov gained their early professional experience.

After the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, Dimitar and his brother moved to Sofia and established the studio “Brothers Karastoyanovi.” Their studio quickly became well known and served members of Bulgaria’s political, cultural, and social elite. They also produced and distributed postcards, which were becoming increasingly popular at the time.

During the government of Stefan Stambolov, Dimitar faced political persecution and moved to Plovdiv.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, he returned to Sofia and opened a new studio on Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard. There he photographed many important Bulgarian public figures, including writers such as Ivan Vazov, Aleko Konstantinov, and Konstantin Velichkov, as well as professors, politicians, actors, and military officers.

One of his most significant achievements was the publication of the 1912 photo album Old Sofia, which documented Sofia’s architecture and urban development.

He also photographed landscapes across Bulgaria, including the Musala, the Seven Rila Lakes, the Rhodope Mountains, and the Iskar Gorge.

During the First Balkan War, Karastoyanov worked as a military photographer attached to the Bulgarian General Staff. He documented military operations, photographed from an airplane over Adrianople, and recorded events such as the capture of Shukri Pasha. His photographs were published in European newspapers, including the Daily Mirror and Illustrated London News.

He died in 1919. His photographic legacy was continued by his son Bozhidar Karastoyanov, who later became court photographer to Boris III of Bulgaria.

Source: Visualizing Family, Gender Relations and the Body Archive, University of Graz

Balkan grandparents! You'll see them working all the time, even though they should be resting. They'll go shopping together, take care of the garden. There would always be a radio or TV playing in the background while they worked or spent time with guests or family. They’d sit on chairs in the garden or out on the street and ask any kid that passed, “whose are you.” They’d be taking care of all the kids in the neighborhood. Some of them had a room in the house, the “good living room” used exclusively for guests, weddings, baptisms, any type of serious official event. They’d give you bags of homegrown veggies to take with you and insist you eat well because “you're too skinny.”

Balkan grandparents will take you to school because your parents are working, then come pick you up and help you with homework. They'll be the ones to make you try foods you don't want to eat because they seem gross. They would also probably give you your first taste of alcohol, usually by dipping their fingers in rakija and placing it on your lips when you were about 6.

My grandma used to take me to church with her, and I'd be bored, but I was getting treats from other grandmas, because that's how Balkan hospitality is. And of course, when leaving, like a classic Balkan grandma, she'd “secretly” hand me money “to get some chocolate or a drink.” Her treat.

When I was a kid, my cousins and I went to visit my grandparents in the village for a week and my grandpa used to drive us to the beach on the back of his pickup truck, under the hot sun, listening to the cicadas, our hair drying in the heat, the sea salt on our skin itching us. My grandma would be home, preparing lunch. We’d enter the house and smell freshly cooked köfte, fries, and salad.

And one day, they're gone.

I have already lost most of them.

I fear the day the phone is going to ring and my mom will tell me they passed, and I wouldn't have seen them in ages, because I live far.

We pray for their health and for more moments with them. But what I want to say, what I’d tell my younger self, is this:

Spend more time with them. Sit with them. Listen