History Museum Of Bosnia And Herzegovina

What your day looks like

The History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, housed in a striking modernist architectural building, offers a profound and moving exploration of the country's rich yet turbulent past, particularly through the lens of the 20th century. Powerful story of creativity, human resilience and cultural resistance comes from the more recent history of the city of Sarajevo - it is a story of ordinary people and survival skills they developed during the siege of Sarajevo (1992-1996). The starting question is what one would do if one day he/she wakes up and realizes that normal life is no more. Out of sudden, electricity, water, heating, and food supply were cut off, and human lives came under threat caused by constant shelling and sniper fire coming from the surrounding hills and occupied neighbourhoods. That is exactly what happened to citizens of Sarajevo in April 1992 and eventually turned to become the longest siege in modern history. Once positioned between the Sniper Alley and occupied neighbourhood of the city, literally on the first frontline, nowadays still bearing the traces of war, there is no better place than the Museum to discover how people of Sarajevo lived throughout the siege, how they got food and water, what the markets and streets looked like, what was the role of art and culture in keeping sense of normality, and much more. A striking feature of the exhibition Besieged Sarajevo is the involvement of the citizens of Sarajevo, who have donated personal war artifacts and shared their stories, making the museum’s narrative even more personal and authentic. Another permanent exhibition goes back to World War II and tells the story of the largest armed resistance against Fascism and Nazism in occupied Europe. Walter was a code name of the leader of the resistance movement in German-occupied Sarajevo: who were the other Walters, i.e., who were the Partisans and how they, by creating a broader, inclusive platform, managed to overcome ethnic divisions in the country and win the war – are some of the questions that the exhibition Wer ist Walter? Topography of Antifascist Resistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina tries to answer.