News from BiH:

• In Banja Luka the army barracks, former headquarter of the army of the Republika Srpska, are now turned into a "University City", as SETimes.com reports. [the universities of Sarajevo and Mostar-East are (partly) housed in former barracks as well, by the way]
• Sarajevo's Art Scene is this issue's feature in the SpikeArtGuide Osteuropa (in German) of the Spike Art Quarterly No.6.

The Macedonian Cultural Heritage Office has announced that it will focus its attention on the revitalization of bazaar quarters over the next 3 years. Among the projects listed as priorities are "Bitola’s old town core, street Marshal Tito and the Bazaar, Ohrid’s old town core, bazaars in Skopje, Struga, Prilep, Kratovo and Gevgelija, town of Krusevo, part of Strumica’s urban architecture, as well as urban parts of Skopje’s center." (1). In other news it was reported that a 17th ct. Turkish hamam in Gevgelija will be restored and adapted for re-use as an art gallery, with financial support from Turkey. (2).

Public Istanbul – Die Stadt und ihre Räume der Öffentlichkeit is the theme of a conference to be held at the Bauhaus Universität Weimar in January 2007 (deadline: June 1, 2006). Interactions between Ottoman and European architectures is one of the themes to be discussed at the International Symposium on Islamic-Turkish Civilization and Europe (11th-18th Centuries), Marmara University Istanbul, November 2006 (deadline: April 15, 2006).
An international meeting on Levantine genealogy titled The Families and the Levantine Communities in Istanbul: Past and Present (September 2006, Istanbul) exemplifies the increased interest in this group; the deadline, however, has already passed. For the conference Steel Cities: Tradition, Transition and Transformation at Sheffield/UK the organizers are soliciting papers dealing with industrial heritage and tourism (deadline: April 17, 2006).