Pale () is a town and municipality of the city of Istočno Sarajevo, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated southeast of the inner city of Sarajevo, making it de facto a
town and suburb of Sarajevo. As of 2013, it had a population of 22,282 inhabitants, while the town of Pale has a population of 13,883 inhabitants.
The famous Jahorina ski resort is located some from the municipality.
The Romanija mountainous region separates Pale from Sokolac, with highlands stretching out as far as Vlasenica and Rogatica.
History
Middle Ages
Pale was mentioned as a nahiye in 1468, and likely existed priorly as a župa. The surroundings were held by the Pavlović family in the 15th century, with fortifications at Pavlovac on Prača river, Gradina in Gornje Pale and Hodidjed above the junction of the Miljacka rivers. The Hodidjed settlement served as an administrative center for the surrounding area. The Pavlović belonged to the higher nobility of the Kingdom of Bosnia, their holdings extended from Vrhbosna (today's Sarajevo) in the west to Dobruna in the east. Pavle Radenović, the founder of the Pavlović line, aside from his ancestral holdings around Pale also owned the mines in Olovo, the city of Trebinje, and parts of Konavle and Cavtat. The area under his control enjoyed prosperous trade between the locals and Ragusan merchants. The main trading center was the town of Prača, part of the Pale municipality today. After the death of the Bosnian King Tvrtko I in 1391 the Bosnian feudals houses struggled to gain the throne. The sons of Pavle, under threat from other Bosnian aristocrats, asked for aid in their allies, the Ottomans. The Ottomans pursued a strategy of divide and conquer that eventually resulted in complete conquest.
Ottoman rule
After the fall of Bosnia the feudal holdings of the House of Pavlović were divided into 11 districts, and renamed the entire area the "Pavli Vilayet. The first Ottoman census in the year 1468–69 the town of Pale is recorded under the name of "Bogazi Yumry" as the seat of one of the 11 districts. The district of "Bogazi Yumry" contained six villages of which two were located on the plane of Pale.
Due to the harsh conditions in which the local Christian population found itself, there is very little data about the urban development during the Ottoman rule of this area in the Middle Ages. The area continued to be commercially viable and valuable to the new rulers. The town of Prača continued to grow and expand until the great fire and outbreak of Black Death in the 18th century. The name "Pavli Vilayet" continued to be used for this area until the beginning of the 19th century and the town eventually came to be known as Pale. One of the earliest recordings of this new name is a map from 1877, where the town itself as well as the entire region are labelled as "Pale".
During the 19th century the Ottoman Empire found itself under the two politically and socially completely different power struggles. The early decades of the 19th century were marked with a series of national and ethnic freedom movements of the many subject people. The Ottoman aristocracy on the other hand was deeply conservative and was resisting any efforts towards reform and development of a centralized state. The aristocracy in Bosnia was among the most dissatisfied in the empire, jealously guarding its right against the powers. In 1831, Captain Husein Gradaščević, one of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the Bosnian aristocracy, came to lead the rebel aristocrats. After the conquest of Travnik, the seat of the Ottoman Viceroy, the Bosnian aristocracy demanded that the Ottoman Sultan halt his reform efforts and keep the status quo in Bosnia. In addition they wanted the right to vote for and appoint the Viceroy from among their ranks. In February 1907 Pale receives the first Elementary School. The school was administered by the school-church board of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Pale but admitted students regardless of faith, mostly children of people who were involved in the town log mill.'
World War I
thumb|Monument dedicated to the WWI victims
In the early months of 1914 after the decisive Serbian victory at the Battle of Cer the allies requested from the Serbs and their Montenegrin allies to attack the Austro-Hungarians in Bosnia and tie up their forces there. In October 1914 the Serbo-Montenegrin armies penetrated the areas surrounding Sarajevo and gained control of Mount Romanija. During that operation, Montenegrin units entered Pale but they withdrew soon afterwards, leaving with a large part of the local Serb population.
thumb|right|Monument to the 98 fallen [[Yugoslav partisans]]
Those who were unable to flee were at the mercy of the Austrian Schutz corps, irregular Austrian police forces tasked with suppressing revolt within the empire. Pale was pillaged and burned down completely after the Austrian forces re-entered the town, with 54 residents lynched in the town center. In the town of Goražde, a refugee column of villagers from nearby villages such as Prača, Vijara, Budj, Podgrab, Vrhpraca, Gorovici, Hotocine, Glasinac, Podromanija and Socica were intercepted by Austrian regular forces and the irregulars before they could cross the Drina river. 48 adult men were separated from the rest of the group and executed by pistol-shot, while the remaining refugees were forced into detention camps. Conditions in these detention camps were especially harsh. Among the most infamous was the detention camp in Doboj. From December 1914 to July 1917 more than 45,000 people (mostly Serbs) were detained there. While the exact numbers of fatalities will probably never be known, more than 1000 fatalities were identified, 230 of which were from the Pale municipality.
Economy
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2024):
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:95%;"
|-
! Activity
! Total
|-
|Agriculture, forestry and fishing||align="right"|198
|-
|Mining and quarrying||align="right"|-
|-
|Manufacturing||align="right"|535
|-
|Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply||align="right"|297
|-
|Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities||align="right"|197
|-
|Construction||align="right"|381
|-
|Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles||align="right"|604
|-
|Transportation and storage||align="right"|414
|-
|Accommodation and food services||align="right"|574
|-
|Information and communication||align="right"|69
|-
|Financial and insurance activities||align="right"|70
|-
|Real estate activities||align="right"|133
|-
|Professional, scientific and technical activities||align="right"|126
|-
|Administrative and support service activities||align="right"|173
|-
|Public administration and defense; compulsory social security||align="right"|477
|-
|Education||align="right"|666
|-
|Human health and social work activities||align="right"|218
|-
|Arts, entertainment and recreation||align="right"|24
|-
|Other service activities||align="right"|113
|- class="sortbottom"
|Total||align="right"|5,269
|}
Forestry
thumb|right|Pale from Trebević
There are more than 30 logging and wood production mills in the Pale municipality. The Wood Industry in Pale is an important part of the town's economy and number of people employed there. Currently there are too many logging facilities around in the area, exceeding the renewal capacity of nearby forests.
Tourism
The local economy has a significant tourism arm. The nearby mountains of Jahorina, Trebević and Igman were used during the 1984 Winter Olympics.
The Jahorina ski resort has 8 lifts and over of ski trails all over the mountain that offer Olympic-style professional trails and novice trails for children and beginners. The high season on Jahorina is mid-December to late January. Around the new year it is almost impossible to get accommodation without advance reservations.
The Hunting Association "Jahorina Pale" administers the "Pale" hunting grounds. These hunting grounds cover more than 37,039 hectares in the Pale and Stari Grad Municipality. The hunting grounds is one of the best-kept and -equipped hunting grounds in Republika Srpska.
The hunting grounds feature three hunting lodges; two are within the county limits of Palem, the hunting lodge "Srndać" features 35 beds, while the smaller hunting lodge "Lane" features 20 beds. The hunting grounds offer different kinds of game including: Deer, Bear, Boar and Rabbits.
A significant archeological find is located at the Orlovača cave. The cave is situated only away from Pale and away from Sarajevo, at above sea level. In 1975 the first explorers entered the cave. Consisting of of explored passages and halls, Orlovača is the second-longest cave in BH ( after Vjetrenica Cave). During August and September 2002, through the initiative of the Faculty of Philosophy in Pale of the total length of the passages with the most beautiful cave ornaments were made accessible for tourist visits.
The cave is characterized by stable microclimate conditions, during the whole year the temperature is only and humidity over 90%. The variety of important signs of life discovered in the cave establishes it among the richest palaeontological sites in the region. The cave bear skeletons discovered in the cave are estimated to be over 16.000 years old. Signs of prehistoric culture were spotted on the slope leading to the main cave entrance. Dating of the remnants places them in the late Bronze Age, but remnants dating back to neolite and mezolite age are also expected to be found.
Because of its scientific and aesthetic characteristics the cave is destined to become the focus of the research and educational projects of the Faculty of Philosophy in Pale. The center is planned to be built on the banks of the Sinjeva River.
Twin towns – sister cities
Pale is twinned with:
- Smederevo, Serbia
- Pomáz, Hungary
Notable people
- Aleksandar Kosorić, footballer
- Goran Trobok, Serbian footballer
- Jelena Lolović, Serbian alpine skier
- Ognjen Koroman, Serbian footballer
- Trifko Grabež, (1895–1916) member of Young Bosnia (which included Gavrilo Princip), a group which was associated with the Black Hand; charged with treason and murder, alongside other members of Young Bosnia, over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg
- Žana Novaković, alpine skier