Ferhad-Pasha Sokolović started building Banjaluka in the area between the
river Vrbas and the small river Crkvena around 1579. By 1587 he built a
large number of public buildings, among which the most important were
Ferhadija, Muslim religious secondary school (medresa), turbe, šadrvan,
Turkish bath (hamam), caravanserai, traveler’s tavern, barns and more than
200 shops.
A Serbian Orthodox Perish Church of
the Holy Spirit was built in 1879. The building material which had been
prepared for that purpose was taken by the Austro-Hungarian government and
used for building the Military Headquarters. The new material obtained for
building the church was not of such a good quality.
An organized foreign community
which would both directly and indirectly influence upon the town concept,
in terms of space and construction, came in the area of Banjaluka in 1869.
It was a Trappist colony, consisting of reformed Cistercians, whose order
was established in France, in the Priory La Trappe in the mid 17th
century.
