Bosnia and Herzegovina: Wartime Scars of Sarajevo
Ask people familiar with Sarajevo to explain what the city is best known for, and you’ll receive a variety of answers. Some may mention religious and ethnic diversity or the city’s role in hosting the 1984 Winter Olympics. However, it’s likely that at least a few will note Sarajevo’s unfortunate history of conflict and war. For example, in 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austria-Hungary throne) and his wife Sophie were assassinated near Sarajevo’s Latin Bridge, an event that ignited World War I. During World War II, the city was invaded by German and Italian forces who looted and burned the main synagogue and deported Jews to concentration camps. Before the war ended, Sarajevo was bombed by Allied aircraft. More recently, its population endured the longest siege (April 1992 to February 1996) in the history of modern warfare.
Today, Sarajevo (population 275,000) is the capital and largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the most ethnically diverse urban areas in the world. It’s possible to find a Catholic church, an Orthodox church, a synagogue, and a mosque in the same neighborhood. The blending of cultures has led some to describe Sarajevo as the “European Jerusalem.”
We departed from Belgrade, Serbia in our rental car for the five-hour drive to Sarajevo. Soon after crossing into Bosnia and Herzegovina we realized that restaurants and shops along our route wouldn’t accept Serbian dinars or our credit cards, so our lunch plans were put on hold. Sarajevo is surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and bisected by the westward flowing Miljacka River. We arrived in the city where the main highway from the west (M17) becomes the infamous Meša Selimović Boulevard. During the 1990s siege, Meša Selimović was dubbed “Sniper Alley” because of gunfire coming from Serbian forces stationed in hills above the city. After checking in at our hotel in Čengić Vila 2, we found a pizzeria adjacent to the river. A predominantly Muslim neighborhood, Čengić Vila 2 still has visible war damage including bullet holes in the sides of buildings.
The next day we drove to the old part of the city. Across the street from Latin Bridge is a museum that interprets events of June 28, 1914, when a young Bosnian named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed the Archduke and his wife. We walked across the bridge and through Mejdan Park before crossing back to see Sarajevo’s city hall. Completed in 1894, the city hall building has pseudo-Moorish architecture. Continuing northwest on Telali Street, we reached Baščaršija Square. Erected by the Ottomans during the 15th century, the square is a jumble of pathways, plazas, shops, minarets, cafes, and restaurants – a mixing of cultures where East meets West. Surrounding the Sebilj (an Ottoman-style wooden fountain) is an open area locals call “pigeon square” with cafés serving Turkish coffee and views of the nearby Husrev-beg Mosque.
During the 1990s siege, Bosnian Serb forces and Yugoslav People’s Army combat units destroyed much of the city with heavy guns, rockets, and mortar fire. More than 11,500 people lost their lives. When the siege was finally lifted, shell holes in concrete walkways were filled with red resin to mark places where three or more people had been killed. Sometimes creating a pattern that resembled a flower, the markings are known as Sarajevo Roses. The magnitude of the city’s human loss is also underscored by thousands of slender white gravestones found on steep hillside cemeteries such as the Martyrs' Cemetery Kovači.
Our final stop was Sarajevo Tunnel (aka Tunel Spasa) which passes under a portion of the city’s airport. Measuring 340-meters in length, the tunnel was constructed between March and June 1993 as a means of connecting the Dobrinja and Butmir neighborhoods. Its existence was not known to United Nations peacekeeping forces that controlled the airport during the conflict. Along with transporting food and medical supplies, the tunnel offered a way to subvert a munitions embargo. For others it served as a pathway for individuals and families to escape the city. Today, the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum in Butmir provides interpretive displays to explain the tunnel’s role and the contributions of its builders during the siege. Before departing we were invited to walk through a 20-meter tunnel section that has been preserved.
