Vrhbosna parish is first time mentioned in the charter of Bele IV from 1244. In the 1926 it is also mentioned as the Vrhbosanje.

In the Vrhbosna parish there was fortified town called Hodidjed, which was located on the east part of Sarajevo valley, just above the river Miljacka. In the sources, it is first mentioned in the 1434, when it was conquered by the Ottomans, as a town which is being held by the conqueror Barak.

In the suburb of Hodidjed, Tuesday used to be trade day, so in the lists from these areas, in 1455, square Tornik is mentioned, what is actually Stara Varoš i Staro Tgovište (Old Town and Old Trade point), according to the Ottoman sources from 1462 and 1468. Vilayet Hodidjed got it name by the same-named city in the Vrhbosna parish.

Map of Hodidjed

In vilayet Hodidjed 1455 there were mentioned a lot of inhabited places, but none of them under the name Hodidjed. Also, medieval square Tornik (Old Trade point), with 50 permanent inhabitants, where close by was a village Brodac, was mentioned in the documents. The Trade point was actually a crossroad of the major roads which lead towards the fortress Hodidjed, Biosko, towards Alifakovac, and the valley of river Miljacka, upstream towards Bistrik, and Debelo Brdo.

One of the most important questions of Sarajevo history, which is being repeated all around, is the phenomenon of the Hodidjed fortress, which in Dubrovnik documents, was for roughly 30 years the oldest spot of Ottoman rule towards the West.

It means that this city, regarding its geo-strategic importance, as well as Vrhbosna, had a significant meaning for the Ottoman military machinery in Bosnia long time before the 1463. The question of the position and role of the Hodidjed in Sarajevo history was an object of speculations for the many researchers.

Till now, all the speculations implied that the city of Hodidjed, present day Old Town (Stari Grad) was at the point of connection of Paljanska and Mokranjska Miljacka. That town was erected during the Ottoman period, and not in the medieval period, and was called Hodidjed. But, at Vratnik in Sarajevo today, long-long time before, there was a town (fortified town), which is actually medieval.

Object existed in its origin shape, probably till the 1878, when, in that area, was built present-day Austro-Hungarian fortress (barracks). Whole that area, altogether with the fortress, is known under the name White Tabija (Bijela Tabija), by the famous tabija (turc. bulwark, fortress), from period 1729-1739, when the old Tabija was expanded with additional walls which (with three Tabijas and three gate-towers) circled whole Vratnik area.

From the many documents, as well as from engravings it is easy to determine the outlook of the city-fortress Hodidjed. Maybe the most complete description is given by the Evlija Čelebija in the 1660: ”Beautiful and small fortress, built of stone on the top of hill, whose size, by measuring all around, is four hundred footsteps”, continuing: “On the north side small circumvallation, but from the south and southeast side all the way to river an abysm like hell, two minarets deep. From river side the fortress is much lower, but there is no way that you could approach it. It has an iron gate facing east.

Inside, there is mosque of Ebu-Feth Mehmed-hana, house of imam, two muezzins, two trumpeters, wheat storage and couple of soldier houses.” Out of the Hodidjed description which was given by the Evlija Čelebija and other writers, from documents, engravements and drawings it is easy to make a sketch. Ground plan is oblong, the longer side goes parallel with river. Construction of the fort is a system of four corner towers, with the square basis, each connected with the stone walls.

Towers overtop the walls. They have wigwam shaped roof, dominate the object and area. Here we find Gothic architecture, similar to one in the medieval cities across the Western Europe. What is interesting here, that we have two towns close to each other, with the same name, given on the basis of “did” – ruler of the Bosnian Church.

Also, in different locations at the time, there were similar names of towns opposite to names of parishes, two, three or more similar names. From the given information it occurs that Sarajevo was not made on totally unsettled and completely opened space, but was built with the tight topographic connection to the point of already built fortress Hodidjed at Vratnik, as its suburbium. Hodidjed at Vratnik has been the center of Vrhbosna parish, so it was chosen and arranged as the residence, “saray” of the first Ottoman governors in the area, since it has been very important strategic point for the protection of the city in the valley.

Given data implies that Ottomans have had organized rule here, what seriously moves back the time of Sarajevo erection/foundation. The name given today is not from the saray of Isa-bey Ishaković, as it was thaught before, but “saray” of earlier Ottoman governors at Hodidjed on Vratnik.

Archeological excavations which were made in 1991 confirmed the remains of mosque and house from the Ottoman period at White Tabija (Bijela Tabija), and also remains of medieval city, what totally confirms the hypothesis of Alija Bejtić, that present-day Sarajevo is was being born, in the suburbium of medieval city, between XII and XIII century, and probably the roots are defined from the ancient town at the same locality.