Sarajevo Bucket List: 25 Years Later
Twenty-five years ago, I first arrived in Sarajevo. It was the autumn of 1996. The war had ended, the siege was over, and peace—long awaited—had begun to settle uneasily over the city. Life was returning, but like a stranger unsure of its welcome.
The destruction was staggering. Entire rows of high-rise apartment blocks stood hollowed and broken. Shell craters pocked the streets. Hospitals, offices, and factories lay in ruins. The city had endured the longest siege in modern history—1,425 days of sniper fire and relentless shelling. Water and electricity were cut. A frontline encircled and divided the city. More than 11,500 people were killed, including 1,600 children. This was urbicide—Europe’s late-20th-century Dresden or Stalingrad. Everyone who survived carried a nightmare.
A quarter of a century later, Sarajevo presents a different face. By 2021, much has been rebuilt. The city projects a bold, cosmopolitan confidence—a modern European destination like any other. In the centre, the scars of war are difficult to find unless you know where to look. Tour buses crowd Baščaršija, the old bazaar and cultural heart of the city. New shopping malls stretch along what was once Sniper Alley. In many ways, the Sarajevo I photographed in 1996 no longer exists.
Over more than fifteen visits across those twenty-five years, I have built an extensive photographic record of the city and its people recovering from war. I once believed I had captured everything Sarajevo had to show me. I was wrong. A handful of places remained unseen—sites I placed on a personal “Sarajevo Bucket List,” determined to visit before it was too late. In August 2021, I returned to complete that journey.
Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Viewed from the outside and the Historical Museum in Sarajevo has clearly seen better days. It may occupy the city’s finest modernist building, but the steps to it’s entrance are crumbling, its marble cubed facade is missing tiles, and parts of the building remain pot marked by bullets and shells.
It was designed by Boris Magaš, Edo Šmidihen and Radovan Horvat and when it was first opened 1963 it was heralded as showpiece of design in Yugoslavia. When I enter and pay my 7 KM (£3) entrance fee it’s early quiet and I realise I have the whole museum to myself.
The museum was closed for several years due to lack of funds and investment. The fact that it is open at all in 2021 is testament to the 40 or so employees who, without receiving any pay, kept coming to work to keep the museum and its collections safe from harm, prevent decay and do basic maintenance on the building.
Operating today as part art gallery with work from international and local artists it also houses a permanent collection of objects from the siege of Sarajevo 1992 – 1995. The exhibits tell the story of what daily life was like during the siege of the city – homemade weaponry made for defence and homemade household items made / adapted for survival.
For a city and a country whose very existence and culture was almost wiped out during the war and siege, the museum limps on with what limited funds and investment it can get. A testament to importance and value of culture and knowledge in a city that seemingly sees progress in the building of new shiny, empty shopping centres.
Holiday Inn
Designed by Bosnian architect Ivan Štraus and built in 1982–83, the bright yellow, Lego-like façade of the Holiday Inn is one of Sarajevo’s most recognisable and controversial buildings. During the war, it was one of the few functioning hotels in the city, housing journalists covering the conflict. Its vivid exterior made it an easy target for snipers positioned in the surrounding hills.
BBC correspondent Martin Bell famously described it as “ground zero.” From there, he said, “you didn’t go out to the war—the war came in to you.”
After years of financial turmoil, bankruptcy, and ownership disputes, the hotel has recently reopened. Sarajevo’s residents have long had a complicated relationship with it—both resenting and embracing its prominence. Yet it remains an integral part of the city’s identity, visible even from 20,000 feet above.
Olympic Ruins – The Ski Jump Complex
“Legacy” is the word most often invoked when cities host mega sporting events. Few Olympic hosts, however, have faced challenges as devastating as Sarajevo. Just eight years after hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics, the city found itself engulfed in war.
On the slopes of Mount Igman stand the remains of the Olympic ski jumps. During the conflict, the area became a frontline between Bosnian Serb forces and the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. United Nations peacekeepers later used the judges’ pavilion as a lookout post. Their emblem still marks the structure.
The decaying ramps, now covered in graffiti and vegetation, embody the fragility of optimism. What was once a symbol of international unity became a strategic military position. The Olympic dream gave way to survival.
The Old Jewish Cemetery
In Sarajevo, cemeteries are never far from daily life. The tradition of burying the dead close to the living is deeply rooted in the city’s culture.
The Old Jewish Cemetery, situated on the slopes of Mount Trebević, is one of the largest in Europe. It contains approximately 3,850 tombstones dating back to the 16th century. During the siege, Bosnian Serb forces occupied the site. Its elevated position made it a strategic location for snipers and artillery. The cemetery became a frontline, littered with landmines and scarred by bullets and explosions.
Demined and returned to Sarajevo’s Jewish community in 1998, restoration efforts continue today. In addition to centuries-old gravestones, the cemetery contains four monuments dedicated to victims of fascism: a Sephardi memorial designed by Jahiel Finci in 1952, two Ashkenazi memorials, and one honouring victims of the Ustaša regime.
Today, the cemetery rests quietly as modern buildings pierce the skyline below. It is a solemn reminder of Sarajevo’s layered history and its long tradition of cultural coexistence—a tradition tested but not extinguished.
