Sarajevo is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, with a population of 305,242 people in the four
municipalities that make up the city proper, and a metro area
population of 423,645 people in the Sarajevo Canton
. It is also the capital of the
Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina entity, as well as the center of the Sarajevo
Canton.
East Sarajevo
is the de jure capital of the Republika Srpska entity.
Sarajevo
is located in the Sarajevo valley of Bosnia proper, surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated around the Miljacka river
.
The city was famous for its traditional religious diversity, with
adherents of
Islam,
Orthodoxy,
Catholicism and
Judaism coexisting there for centuries. Due to this
long and rich history of religious diversity and coexistence
Sarajevo has often been called the "Jerusalem of
Europe".Stilinovic, Josip (3 January 2002).
In Europe's Jerusalem Catholic World News. Retrieved
on 5 August 2006.
Lonely Planet has named Sarajevo as
one of the top 10 cities to visit in 2010.
Although settlement in the area stretches back to
prehistoric times, the modern city arose as an
Ottoman stronghold in the 15th
century.
Sarajevo has attracted international
attention several times throughout its history: In 1914 it was the
site of the assassination
that sparked World War
I, while seventy years later it became the host city of the
1984 Winter Olympics.
More
recently, Sarajevo underwent the longest siege in modern military
history
during the Bosnian
War. Today the city is
recovering
and adjusting to a post-war reality, as a major center of culture
and
economic
development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Sarajevo was also the
first city in Europe and the second city in the world to have a
full-time operational electric tram network running through the
city, the first being San Francisco
.
History
Ancient Times
Archeologists can safely say that the
Sarajevo region has been continuously inhabited by humans since the
Neolithic age. The most famous example of
a Neolithic settlement in the Sarajevo area is that of the
Butmir culture.
The discoveries at
Butmir
were made on the grounds of modern day Sarajevo
suburb Ilidža
in 1893 by Austro-Hungarian authorities during
the construction of an agricultural school. The area’s richness in
flint was no doubt attractive to Neolithic man, and
the settlement appears to have flourished. The most stunning
aspects of the settlement are the unique
ceramics and
pottery
designs which identified the Butmir people as a unique culture.
This was largely responsible for the International congress of
archeologists and
anthropologists
meeting in Sarajevo in 1894.
The next prominent inhabitants of Sarajevo were the
Illyrians.
The ancient people that considered most of
the West Balkans as their homeland had
several key settlements in the region, mostly around the river
Miljacka and Sarajevo
valley. The Illyrians in the Sarajevo region belonged to the
Daesitiates, a war-like people
who were probably the last Illyrian people in Bosnia and
Herzegovina to resist
Roman occupation.
Their defeat to the
Roman emperor
Tiberius in 9 A.D. marks the start of Roman
rule in the region.
The Romans never built up the region of
modern day Bosnia that much, however it is known that the Roman colony of Aquae Sulphurae
existed on top of present day Ilidža, and was the
most important settlement of the time. After the Romans, the
Goths settled the area, followed by the
Slavs in the
7th century.
Middle Ages
During the
Middle Ages Sarajevo was part
of the Bosnian province of Vrhbosna near the traditional center of
the kingdom. Though a city called Vrhbosna existed, the exact
settlement of Sarajevo at this time is debated. During the
high Middle Ages various documents make
note of a place called “Tornik” in the region.
By all indications
however, “Tornik” was a very small marketplace surrounded by a
proportionally small village not considered very important by
Ragusan
merchants.
Others meanwhile say that Vrhbosna was a major city located in the
middle of modern day Sarajevo. Indeed,
Papal documents say that in 1238, a
Cathedral to
Saint
Paul was built in the city. Even disciples of the famous
Saint Cyril and
Saint Methodius had stopped by
the region, establishing a
church
at “Vrelobosna”. Whether this city was indeed located at modern day
Sarajevo or not, an important city called Vrhbosna did indeed exist
at the time and the region was of great importance. The settlement
VrhBosna existed in the valley as a Slavic
citadel from 1263 until it was conquered by the
Ottoman Empire's warriors in
1429.
Ottoman Era
Sarajevo as we know it today was founded by the
Ottoman Empire in the 1450s upon conquering
the region, with 1461 typically used as the city’s founding date.
The first Ottoman governor of
Bosnia Province,
Isa-Beg Ishaković, transformed whatever
cluster of villages there was there into a city and state capitol
by building a number of key objects, including a mosque, a closed
marketplace, a public bath, a hostel, and of course the governor’s
castle (“Saray”) which gave the city its present name. The mosque
was named “Careva Džamija” (the Tsar’s Mosque) in honor of the
Sultan
Mehmed II. With the improvements
Sarajevo quickly grew into the largest city in the region. Many
Christians converted to
Islam at this time. The settlement was established as
a city, named
Bosna-Saraj, around the citadel in 1461. The
name Sarajevo is derived from Turkish
saray ovası, meaning
the field around saray.
Under the wise leadership of people such as the second governor
Gazi Husrev-beg (the city’s greatest
donor who built most of what is now the Old Town) Sarajevo grew at
a rapid rate. Sarajevo became known for its large marketplace and
numerous mosques, which by the middle of the 16th century were over
a hundred in number.
At its height, Sarajevo was the biggest and
most important Ottoman city in the Balkans after Istanbul
itself. By 1660, the population of Sarajevo
was estimated to be over 80,000.
Comparatively, Belgrade
in 1838 had a mere 12,963 inhabitants, and Zagreb
as late as
1851 had a lowly 14,000 people. Things went mostly downhill
for Sarajevo from there.
In 1699
Prince Eugene of
Savoy led a successful raid on Sarajevo. After his men looted
all that they could, the city was set on fire. In a mere day,
nearly the whole city was destroyed except for a handful of
neighborhoods, some mosques, and the
orthodox church. Numerous other fires
weakened the city as well, so that by 1807 it only had some 60,000
residents.
In the 1830s the area around the city was ground to several battles
of the Bosnian rebellion, led by
Husein Gradaščević. Today,
a major city street is named “Dragon of Bosnia” in his honor. The
rebellion however, failed, and the crumbling Ottoman state remained
in control of Bosnia for several more decades.
Austria-Hungary
A plaque commemorating the location of
the assassination.
In 1697, during the
Great Turkish
War, a raid was led by
Prince
Eugene of Savoy of the
Habsburg
Monarchy against the Ottoman Empire, which conquered Sarajevo
and left it plague-infected and burned to the ground. The city was
later rebuilt, but never fully recovered from the destruction. The
Ottoman Empire made Sarajevo an important administrative centre by
1850, but the ruling powers changed as the
Austria-Hungarian Empire conquered
Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 as part of the
Treaty of Berlin, and annexed it
completely in 1908.
Sarajevo
was industrialized by Austria-Hungary, who used the city as a
testing area for new inventions, such as tramways, before installing them in Vienna
.
Architects and engineers who endeavored to rebuild Sarajevo as a
modern European capital rushed to the city. They were unexpectedly
aided by a fire that burned down a large part of the central city
area (
čaršija). This has resulted in a unique blend of the
remaining Ottoman city market and contemporary western
architecture. Sarajevo hosts some shiny examples of
Secession and Pseudo-
Moorish styles that date from this period.
The
Austria-Hungarian period
was one of great development for the city as the Western power
brought its new acquisition up to the standards of the
Victorian age. Various factories and other
buildings were built at this time, and a large number of
institutions were both Westernized and modernized. For the first
time in history, Sarajevo’s population began writing in
Latin script.
In the
event that triggered World War I,
Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg,
were assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 by a self declared
Yugoslav
, Gavrilo
Princip. In the ensuing war, however, most of the
Balkan offensives occurred near Belgrade, and Sarajevo largely escaped damage and
destruction during the war. Following the war, after the Balkans were
unified under the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Sarajevo became the capital of the Drina Province. In World War II, the city became a part of the
Independent
State of Croatia
after the Axis
invasion of Yugoslavia. The city was
bombed by the Allies
from 1943 to 1944.
Yugoslavia
After
World War I Sarajevo became part of the
Kingdom of
Yugoslavia. Though it held some political importance,
as the center of first the Bosnian region and then the Drinska
Banovina, it was not treated with the same attention or considered
as significant as it was in the past. Outside of today's national
bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, virtually no significant
contributions to the city were made during this period.
During
World War II the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia put up an inadequate defense. Following a German bombing
campaign, Sarajevo was captured on the 15th April 1941 by the
16th Motorized infantry
Division.
Shortly after the fall, the city, like many other Yugoslav areas,
formed a strong
partisan
movement. Sarajevo's resistance was led by a
NLA Partisan named
"Walter" Perić. He died while leading the final
liberation of the city on the 6th of April 1945 and became famous
for his actions shortly afterwards. Many of the
WWII shell
casings that were used during the attacks have been carved and
polished in Sarajevo tradition and are sold as art.
Following
the liberation, Sarajevo was the capital of the republic of Bosnia
and Herzegovina within the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
. The communists invested heavily in Sarajevo,
building many new residential blocks in Novi Grad
Municipality
and Novo Sarajevo Municipality
, while simultaneously developing the city's
industry and transforming Sarajevo once again into one of the
Balkans' chief cities. From a post-war population of
115,000, by the end of Yugoslavia Sarajevo had 429,672 people.
Sarajevo
grew rapidly as it became an important regional industrial center
in Yugoslavia. Modern communist-city blocks were built
west of the old city, adding to Sarajevo's architectural
uniqueness.
The crowning moment of Sarajevo’s time in Socialist Yugoslavia was
the
1984 Winter Olympics.
Sarajevo
beat out Sapporo, Japan
; and
Falun
/Göteborg
, Sweden
for the
privilege. They were followed by an immense boom in
tourism, making the
1980s one
of the city's best decades in a long time.
Siege of Sarajevo
The parliament building in the centre
of Sarajevo burns after being hit by Serbian tank fire during the
siege in 1992
The
Siege of
Sarajevo was the longest siege in the history of modern warfare, conducted by the Serb forces
of self-proclaimed Republika Srpska and Yugoslav People's Army
(later transformed to the Army of Serbia and Montenegro), lasting from 5
April 1992 to 29 February 1996.
It was
fought during the Bosnian War between
poorly equipped defending forces of the Bosnian government, who had
declared independence
from Yugoslavia, and the Yugoslav
People's Army (JNA) and Bosnian Serb forces
(Army of Republika
Srpska) (VRS) located in the hills around Sarajevo, who sought
to destroy the newly-independent state of Bosnia and
Herzegovina and create the Serbian state
of Republika Srpska
(RS). It resulted in large scale destruction and dramatic
population casualties. It is estimated that of the more than 12,000
people who were killed and the 50,000 who were wounded during the
siege, 85% of the casualties were
civilians. Because of killing and
forced migration, by 1995 the population
decreased to 334,663 - 64% of the prewar population.
In
January 2003, the ICTY
Trial Chamber convicted the first commander of the
Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, Stanislav
Galić, of the shelling and sniper terror campaign against
Sarajevo, including the first Markale
massacre. General Galić was sentenced to life
imprisonment for the
crimes
against humanity during the siege. In 2007, a Serb general,
Dragomir Milošević, who
replaced Stanislav Galić on the commander position of the
Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was found guilty of the shelling and
sniper
terrorism campaign against Sarajevo
and its citizens from August 1994 to late 1995 including the
second Markale
massacre. Milošević was sentenced to 33 years in prison. The
Trial Chamber concluded that the Markale town market was hit on 28
August 1995 by a 120 mm
mortar
shell fired from the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps positions.
Reconstruction
of Sarajevo started as soon as the war ended with the
Dayton Agreement of November 1995.
By 2003, most of the city had been rebuilt or repaired, with only a
few remaining visible ruins in the city centre. The Vijecnica, or
city hall, which was originally constructed in the late 19th
century and was nearly completely destroyed during the siege, is
now being repaired by a joint European commission.
Modern office buildings and
skyscrapers
have since been constructed throughout the city.
Geography
Sarajevo during the winter.
Sarajevo is located near the geometric center of the
triangular-shaped Bosnia-Herzegovina and within the historical
region of
Bosnia proper. It lies in
the Sarajevo valley, in the middle of the
Dinaric Alps. The valley itself once formed a
vast expanse of greenery, but gave way to urban expansion and
development in the post-
World War II
era. The city is surrounded by heavily forested hills and five
major mountains.
The highest of the surrounding peaks is
Treskavica
at , then Bjelašnica
at , Jahorina
at , Trebević at ,
with Igman
being the
shortest. Last four are also known as Olympics mountains of
Sarajevo (see also
1984 Winter
Olympics Games in Sarajevo). On average, Sarajevo is situated
above
sea level. The city itself has its
fair share of hilly terrain, as evidenced by the many steeply
inclined streets and settlements seemingly perched on the
hillsides.
The
Miljacka river is one of the city's chief geographic
features. It flows through the city from east through
the center of Sarajevo to west part of city where eventually meets
up with the Bosna
river. Miljacka river is "The Sarajevo River", with
its source in the town of Pale
, several kilometers to the east of Sarajevo.
The Bosna's source,
Vrelo Bosne near
Ilidža (west Sarajevo), is another notable natural landmark and a
popular destination for Sarajevans and other tourists. Several
smaller rivers and streams also run through the city and its
vicinity.
Cityscape
Sarajevo
is located close to the center of the triangular shape of Bosnia and
Herzegovina in southeastern Europe. It consists of four
municipalities (or "on Bosnian: Općine, on Serbian: Opštine"):
Centar
(Center), Novi Grad
(New City), Novo Sarajevo
(New Sarajevo), and Stari Grad
(Old City). Greater Sarajevo includes these and the
neighbouring municipalities of Ilidža and Vogošća
. The city has an urban area of 141.5 square
kilometres (54.6 sq mi)
Climate
Sarajevo
has a continental climate, lying
between the climate zones of central
Europe to the north and the Mediterranean
to the south. The proximity of the
Adriatic
Sea
moderates Sarajevo's climate somewhat, although the
mountains to the south of the city greatly reduce this maritime
influence. The average yearly temperature is 9.5 °
C, with January (-1.3 °C avg.) being the coldest
month of the year and July (19.1 °C avg.) the warmest.
The highest recorded temperature was 40.0 °C on 19 August 1946,
while the lowest recorded temperature was −26.4 °C on 25 January
1942. On average, Sarajevo has 68 summer days per year (temperature
greater than or equal to 30.0 °C). The city typically experiences
mildly cloudy skies, with an average yearly
cloud cover of 59%.
The cloudiest month is December (75% average cloud cover) while the
clearest is August (37%). Moderate precipitation occurs fairly
consistently throughout the year, with an average 170 days of
rainfall. Suitable climatic conditions have allowed
winter sports to flourish in the region, as
exemplified by the
Winter Olympics
in 1984 that were celebrated in Sarajevo.
Government
Building of the Government of Bosnia
and Herzegovina
Sarajevo
is the capital of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its sub-entity, the Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, as well as of the Sarajevo Canton. It is also the
de jure capital of
another entity,
Republika Srpska.
Each of these levels of government has their parliament or council,
as well as judicial courts, in the city. In addition many foreign
embassies are located in
Sarajevo.
Bosnia and
Herzegovina's Parliament office in Sarajevo was damaged heavily
in the Bosnian war. Due to damage
the staff and documents were moved to a nearby ground level office
to resume the work. In late 2006 reconstruction work started on the
Parliament and is to be finished in early 2007. The cost of
reconstruction is supported 80% by the
Greek Governmentthrough the Hellenic
Program of Balkans Reconstruction (ESOAV) and 20% by
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Municipalities
The city
comprises four municipalities Centar, Novi Grad, Novo
Sarajevo, and
Stari
Grad. Each operate their own
municipal government, united they form one
city government with its own constitution. The
executive branch ( ) consists of a
mayor, with two deputies and a cabinet. The
legislative branch consists of the
City Council, or
Gradsko
Vijeće. The council has 28 members, including a council
speaker, two deputies, and a secretary. Councilors are elected by
the municipality in numbers roughly proportional to their
population. The city government also has a
judicial branch based on the post-transitional
judicial system as outlined by the
High
Representative's “High Judicial and Prosecutorial
Councils”.
Sarajevo's Municipalities are further split into "local
communities" (Bosnian,
Mjesne zajednice). Local
communities have a small role in city government and are intended
as a way for ordinary citizens to get involved in city government.
They are based around key neighborhoods in the city.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Sarajevo is
twinned with:
Fraternity Cities
Sarajevo's
fraternity cities
include:
Economy
The building of BOR bank in
Sarajevo.
After years of war, Sarajevo's economy has been subject to
reconstruction and rehabilitation programs. Amongst other economic
landmarks, the
Central Bank of Bosnia
and Herzegovina opened in Sarajevo in 1997 and the
Sarajevo Stock Exchange began
trading in 2002. The city's large manufacturing, administration,
and tourism base, combined with a large
informal market, makes it one of the
strongest economic regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
While Sarajevo had a large industrial base during its communist
period, only a few pre-existing businesses have successfully
adapted to the
market economy.
Sarajevo industries now include tobacco products, furniture,
hosiery, automobiles, and communication equipment. Companies based
in Sarajevo include
B&H
Airlines,
BH Telecom,
Bosnalijek,
Energopetrol,
Sarajevo Tobacco Factory, and
Sarajevska Pivara (Sarajevo
Brewery).
Sarajevo has a strong tourist industry and was named by
Lonely Planet the 43rd Best City in the World
in 2006.
Sports-related tourism uses the legacy
facilities of the 1984 Winter
Olympics, especially the skiing facilities on the nearby
mountains of Bjelašnica, Igman, Jahorina, Trebević, and
Treskavica. Sarajevo's 600 years of history, influenced
by both Western and Eastern empires, is also a strong
tourist attraction. Sarajevo has hosted
travellers for centuries, because it was an important trading
center during the
Ottoman and
Austria-Hungarian empires.
Examples
of popular destinations in Sarajevo include the Vrelo Bosne park, the Sarajevo
cathedral
, and the Gazi Husrev-beg's Mosque
. Tourism in Sarajevo is chiefly focused
on historical, religious, and cultural aspects
In 1981 Sarajevo's GDP per capita was 133% of the Yugoslav
average.
Demographics
The last official
census in Bosnia and
Herzegovina took place 1991 and recorded 527,049 people living in
city of Sarajevo (ten municipalities). In the settlement of
Sarajevo itself were 416,497 inhabitants. The war displaced
hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom have not
returned.
Today, Sarajevo's population is not known clearly and is based on
estimates contributed by the
United Nations Statistics
Division and the Federal Office of Statistics of the
Federation of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, among other national and international
non-profit organizations.
, the population of the city's four municipalities is estimated to be 305,242, whereas the Sarajevo Canton population is estimated at 423,645. With an area of , Sarajevo has a population density of about The Novo Sarajevo municipality is the most densely populated part of Sarajevo with about , while the least densely populated is the Stari Grad, with .
War changed the ethnic and religious profile of the city. It had
for long been a multicultural city, and usually carried the epithet
of "Europe's Jerusalem". In 1991,
Muslims
Bosniaks formed 45% of the population, followed by
Eastern Orthodox Serbs with 38%, and
Roman Catholic Croats with 7%.
Today, only about 18,000 Serbs (and practically insignificant
number of Croats) remain in Sarajevo.
Infrastructure
Transportation
Sarajevo's location in a valley between mountains makes it a
compact city. Narrow city streets and a lack of parking areas
restrict automobile traffic but allow better pedestrian and cyclist
mobility. The two main streets are Titova street (Street of
Marshal Tito) and the east-west Zmaj
od Bosne (
Dragon of
Bosnia) highway.
The trans-European highway, Corridor 5C,
runs through Sarajevo connecting it to Budapest
in the north, and Ploče
in the
south.
Electric
tramways, in operation since 1885, are
the oldest form of
public
transportation in the city. There are seven tramway lines
supplemented by five
trolleybus lines and
numerous bus routes. The main
railroad
station in Sarajevo is located in the north-central area of the
city. From there, the tracks head west before branching off in
different directions, including to industrial zones in the city.
Sarajevo is currently undergoing a major infrastructure renewal;
many highways and streets are being repaved, the tram system is
undergoing modernization, and new bridges and roads are under
construction.
Sarajevo
International Airport
, also called Butmir, is located just a few
kilometers southwest of the city. During the war the airport
was used for
United Nations flights
and
humanitarian relief. Since the
Dayton Accord in 1996, the airport
has welcomed a thriving commercial flight business which includes
the new Sarajevo International on March 2008 221 Countries, cities
and airlines. In 2006, 534,000 passengers had travelled through
Sarajevo airport, whereas only 25,000 had just 10 years earlier in
1996.
Communications and media
The headquarters of the Sarajevo
newspaper
Avaz
As the
capital and largest city of
Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Sarajevo is the main center of the country's
media. Most of the communications
and media infrastructure was destroyed during the war but
reconstruction led by the Office of the High Representative have
helped modernize the industry. For example, internet was first made
available to the city in 1995.
Oslobođenje (Liberation),
founded in 1943, is Sarajevo longest running
newspaper and the only one to survive the war.
However, this long running and trusted newspaper has fallen behind
the
Dnevni Avaz (Daily Voice), founded
in 1995, and
Jutarnje Novine (Morning News) in circulation
in Sarajevo. Other local periodicals include the Croatian newspaper
Hrvatska riječ and the Bosnian
magazine
Start, as well as weekly
newspapers
Slobodna Bosna (
Free Bosnia) and
BH Dani (
BH Days).
Novi Plamen, a monthly magazine, is the
most left-wing publication currently.
The
Radiotelevision of
Bosnia-Herzegovina is Sarajevo's
public television station, one of three
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other stations based in the city include
NRTV “Studio 99”,
NTV Hayat, Open
Broadcast Network, TV Kantona Sarajevo and Televizija Alfa. Many
small independent radio stations exist, included established
stations such as Radio M, Radio Stari Grad (Radio Old Town),
Studentski eFM Radio, Radio 202 and RSG.
Radio Free Europe, as well
as several American and West European stations, are available in
the city, too.
Education
Higher education has a long
tradition in Sarajevo. The first institution that can be classified
as such was a school of
Sufi philosophy established by
Gazi Husrev-beg in 1531; numerous other
religious schools have been established over time. In 1887, under
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a
Sharia Law
School began a five-year program. In the 1940s the
University of Sarajevo became the
city's first secular higher education institute. In the 1950s
post-bachelaurate graduate degrees became available. While severely
damaged during the war, it was rebuilt in partnership with more
than 40 other universities.
, in Sarajevo there are 46 elementary schools (Grades 1–9) and 33 high schools (Grades 10–13), including three schools for children with special needs, as well as Druga Gimnazija
high school providing International Baccalaureate programs for international and resident students.
There are also several
international schools in Sarajevo,
catering to the expatriate community; some of which are
Sarajevo International School
and The French International School of Sarajevo.
Culture
Sarajevo has been home to many different religions for centuries,
giving the city a range of diverse cultures. In the time of Ottoman
occupation of Bosnia, Moslem
Bosniaks,
Eastern Orthodox
Serbs, Roman Catholic
Croats, and
Sephardi
Jews all shared the city while maintaining distinctive identities.
They were joined during the brief occupation by
Austria-Hungary by a smaller number of
Germans,
Hungarians,
Slovaks,
Czechs and
Ashkenazi
Jews.
As a result of the war, today the city is primarily
Bosniak, however, but in recent years many refugees
have returned, and there are a growing number of
illegal immigrants from
Eastern Asia.
Historically, Sarajevo was home to several famous
Bosnian poets, scholars, philosophers, and writers
during the
Ottoman Empire. To list
only a few;
Nobel Prize-winner
Vladimir Prelog is from the city, as is
Academy Award-winning director
Danis Tanović. Nobel Prize-winner
Ivo Andrić attended high school in
Sarajevo for two years.
Museums
The National Museum of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, in Sarajevo.
The city is rich in museums, including the Museum of Sarajevo, the
Ars Aevi Museum of Contemporary Art, the
National
Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (established in 1888 and home
to the
Sarajevo Haggadah), the
Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Museum of
Literature and Theatre Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city
also hosts the National theatre of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
established in 1919, as well as the Sarajevo Youth Theatre. Other
cultural institutions include
the Center for Sarajevo Culture, Sarajevo City Library, Art Gallery
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the
Bosniak Institute, a privately owned
library and
art collection
focusing on Bosniak history.
Demolitions associated with the war, as well as reconstruction,
destroyed several institutions and cultural or
religious symbols including the Gazi
Husrev-beg library, the national library, the Sarajevo
Oriental Institute, and a
museum dedicated to the
1984
Olympic games. Consequently, the different levels of government
established strong cultural protection laws and institutions.
Bodies charged with cultural preservation in Sarajevo include the
Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and
Natural Heritage of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (and their Sarajevo Canton counterpart), and the Bosnia
and Herzegovina Commission to Preserve National Monuments.
Music
The
Sarajevo school of pop
rock developed in the city between 1961 and 1991. This type of
music began with bands like
Indexi, Pro Arte
and singer/song writer
Kemal Monteno.
It continued into the 1980s, with bands such as
Plavi Orkestar, and
Crvena Jabuka, ending with the war in 1992.
Sarajevo was also the birthplace of the most popular Yugoslav
rock band of all time,
Bijelo Dugme, somewhat of a Bosnian parallel to
the
Rolling Stones, in both
popularity and fame. Sarajevo was also the home of a very notable
post-punk urban subculture known as the
New Primitives, which began during
the early 1980s and was brought into the mainstream through bands
such as
Zabranjeno Pušenje
and Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors, as well as the
Top Lista Nadrealista radio, and later
television show. Other notable bands considered to be part of this
subculture are Bombaj štampa and Šume i Gore.
Besides and
separately from the New Primitives, Sarajevo is the
hometown of one of the most significant ex-Yugoslavian
alternative industrial-noise
bands, SCH (1983-current).
Festivals
The
Sarajevo Film Festival,
established in 1995, has become the premier
film festival in the Balkans. The
Sarajevo Winter Festival,
Sarajevo Jazz Festival are
well-known, as is the
Baščaršija Nights festival,
a month-long showcase of local culture, music, and dance.
The Sarajevo Film Festival has been hosted at the National Theater,
with screenings at the Open-air theater Metalac and the Bosnian
Cultural Center, all located in downtown Sarajevo and has hosted
such world-renowned actors, directors, and musicians as:
Steve Buscemi,
Bono,
Coolio,
John
Malkovich,
Nick Nolte,
Daniel Craig,
Willem
Dafoe,
Anthony Minghella,
Katrin Cartlidge,
Alexander Payne,
Sophie Okonedo,
Stephen Frears,
Michael Moore,
Darren Aronofsky,
Mickey Rourke,
Gillian Anderson,
Kevin Spacey, and many other major cultural
figures from the Balkans, Europe, and the Americas.
In the past thirteen years, the festival has entertained people and
celebrities alike, elevating it to an international level. The
first incarnation of the Sarajevo Film Festival was hosted in
still-warring Sarajevo in 1995, and has now progressed into being
the biggest and most significant festival in
South-Eastern Europe. A talent campus is also held
during the duration of the festival, with numerous world-renowned
lecturers speaking on behalf of world cinematography and holding
workshops for film students from across South-Eastern Europe.
The
Sarajevo Jazz Festival
has been entertaining Jazz connoisseurs for over ten years and has
hosted such artists as
Richard Bona,
The John Butler Trio,
Cristina Branco,
Dhafer Youssef, and many more. The festival
takes place at the Bosnian Cultural Center (aka "Main Stage"), just
down the street from the SFF, at the Sarajevo Youth Stage Theater
(aka "Strange Fruits Stage", at the Dom Vojske Federacije (aka
"Solo Stage"), and at the CDA (aka "Groove Stage").
Sports
The city was the location of the
1984 Winter Olympics. Yugoslavia won
one medal, a silver in men's giant slalom awarded to
Jure Franko.
Many of the Olympic facilities survived the
war or were reconstructed, including Olympic Hall Zetra
and Asim
Ferhatović Stadion
. After co-hosting the Southeast Europe
Friendship games, Sarajevo was awarded the 2009
Special Olympic winter games, but cancelled
these plans.
Football is popular in
Sarajevo; the city hosts
FK
Sarajevo and
FK Željezničar, which
both compete in European and international cups and tournaments and
are have a very large trophy cabinet in the former Yugoslavia as
well as independent Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other notable soccer
clubs are
FK Olimpik
and
SAŠK. Another
popular sport is basketball; the basketball club
KK Bosna Sarajevo won the
European Championship in 1979 as well as many
Yugoslav and Bosnian national championships making it one of the
greatest basketball clubs in the former Yugoslavia. The chess club,
Bosna Sarajevo, has been a championship team since the
1980s and is the third ranked chess club in Europe, having won four
consecutive European championships in the nineties. HC Bosna also
competes in the European Champions League and is considered one of
the most well organised handball clubs in South-Eastern Europe with
a very large
fan base and excellent
national, as well as international results.Sarajevo often holds
international events and competitions in sports such as tennis and
kickboxing.
Rock climbing is popular;
rock-climbing events and practices are held at Sarajevo's Dariva
area, where there is also an extensive network of biking trails.
In popular culture
- In the long-running RTS
series Command & Conquer,
the Brotherhood of Nod often
builds its center of operations at Sarajevo. Kane's temple, Temple Prime, is
built near the outskirts of the city.
- Sarajevo was used as the primary filming location in Welcome to Sarajevo and The Hunting Party, starring
Woody Harrelson and Richard Gere, respectively.
- David Fiuczynski's jazz-funk band, Screaming Headless Torsos, wrote a
song entitled Wedding in Sarajevo, which appears on their album
1995 (released in 1995). It was most likely about the Siege of
Sarajevo of 1992-6 due to the fact the siege was ongoing during the albums
conception.
- U2 released a song entitled Miss Sarajevo on their 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1 under the
pseudonym Passengers. The song
also featured Brian Eno and Luciano Pavarotti.
- Grand Funk Railroad released
an entire album entitled Bosnia,
dedicated to the people that were caught in the siege of 1992-1996;
the city of Sarajevo and its soul was a recurring symbolic element
throughout the album.
- American progressive metal band Savatage released album Dead Winter Dead in 1995 dealing with a
Serb boy and a Muslim girl who fall in love. The story of the album
also focused on the Bosnian War, which was on going at the time.
Album featured songs "Sarajevo", and Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24,
which was also re-released by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
- Steven Galloway's novel "The
Cellist of Sarajevo" is set during siege of
1992-1996.
- Comic creator Hermann Huppen
created 'Sarajevo Tango', published
at Dupuis in 1995
See also
Gallery
File:Sarajevo
Ferhad-begova-Mosque02.jpg|Ferhadija Mosque
File:Sarajevo ortodox church.JPG|Sarajevo's Serbian Orthodox
CathedralFile:JesusesHearthCathedral.jpg|Cathedral of
Jesus' Heart - Catholic Cathedral in
SarajevoFile:Sarajevo Synagogue 02.jpg|Sarajevo Synagogue
References
- Malcolm, Noel. Bosnia: A Short History. ISBN
0-81475-561-5.
- Valerijan, Žujo; Imamović, Mustafa; Ćurovac, Muhamed.
Sarajevo.
- Kelley, Steve. Rising Sarajevo finds hope again.
The
Seattle Times. Retrieved on 19 August 2006.
- [1] Lonely Planet: Best Cities in the World
- Tourism Association of Sarajevo Canton. The Culture & History. World Weather -
Average Conditions. Retrieved on 3 August 2006.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina Commission to Preserve National
Monuments. II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION. Roman remains
at Ilidža, the archaeological site - Elucidation.
Retrieved on 3 August 2006.
- New Britannica, volume 10, edition 15 (1989).
Sarajevo. ISBN 0-85229-493-X.
- The Columbia Encyclopedia, edition 6.
Sarajevo. Retrieved on 3 August 2006.
- FICE (International Federation of Educative Communities)
Congress 2006. Sarajevo - History. Congress in Sarajevo.
Retrieved on 3 August 2006.
- Robert J. Donia, Sarajevo: a biography. University
of Michigan Press, 2006. (p. 197)
- Sachs, Stephen E. (1994). Sarajevo: A Crossroads in History. Retrieved on 3
August 2006.
- History of Sarajevo
- Galić verdict- 2. Sniping and Shelling of Civilians
in Urban Bosnian Army-held Areas of Sarajevo
- Galić: Crimes convicted of
- SENSE - DRAGOMIR MILOSEVIC SENTENCED TO 33
YEARS
- European Commission - Council of Europe Joint Programme:
Integrated Rehabilitation Project Plan / Survey of the
Architectural and Archaeological Heritage (IRPP/SAAH) – Bosnia and
Herzegovina, March 2004.
- Government of Sarajevo on Sarajevo Official Web Site
- European Commission & World Bank. The European Community (EC) Europe for Sarajevo
Programme The EC reconstruction programme for Bosnia and
Herzegovina detailed by sector. Retrieved on 5 August 2006.
- CIA (2006). Bosnia and Herzegovina CIA World
Factbook. Retrieved on 5 August 2006.
- Lonely Planet (March 2006). The Cities Book: A Journey Through
The Best Cities In The World. Lonely Planet Publications, ISBN
1-74104-731-5.
- Population density and urbanization. Retrieved on 5 August
2006.
- Sarajevo Canton. Population Density by Municipalities of Sarajevo
Canton. About Canton. Retrieved on 5 August 2006.
- Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, US Department of State.
Bosnia and Herzegovina International
Religious Freedom Report 2005. Retrieved on 5 August 2006.
- Bosmal. Corridor 5C. Retrieved on 5 August 2006.
- About trams on Virtual City of Sarajevo
- Krkic, Zahid The airport is also seeing new airlines begin
operation; such as British Airways, which operates direct
flights to London as of 2007 , and many other European airlines
will begin operation in Butmir. soon/ Statistics data for Sarajevo Airport. Retrieved
on 5 August 2006.
- European Journalism Centre (November 2002). The Bosnia-Herzegovina media landscape.
European Media Landscape. Retrieved on 5 August 2006.
- Vockic-Avdagic, Jelenka. The Internet and the Public in
Bosnia-Herzegovina in Spassov, O. and Todorov Ch. (eds.)
(2003), New Media in Southeast Europe. SOEMZ, European University
"Viadrina" (Frankfurt - Oder) and Sofia University"St. Kliment
Ohridski".
- Udovicic, Radenko (03-05-2002). What is
Happening with the Oldest Bosnian-Herzegovinian Daily: Oslobođenje
to be sold for 4.7 Million Marks Mediaonline.ba: Southeast
European Media Journal.
- Studentski eFM
Radio
- University of Sarajevo on Sarajevo official web
site
- History of University of Sarajevo
- Sarajevo Canton, 2000 . Sarajevo 2000, p107–08.
- Perlez, Jane (12 August 1996). Ruins of Sarajevo Library Is Symbol of a Shattered
Culture New York Times.
- IOC (2006). Jure Franko Althete: Profiles. Retrieved on 5
August 2006.
- Special Olympics, (2005 - Quarter 2). Spirit. Retrieved on 5
August 2006.
- Hem, Brad (29 July 2006). Idaho may be in the running to host the 2009
Special Olympics IdahoStatesman.com.
- Special Olympics (May 2006). Boise, Idaho (USA) Awarded 2009 Special Olympics
World Winter Games Global News.
- Official results from the book: Ethnic composition of
Bosnia-Herzegovina population, by municipalities and settlements,
1991. census, Zavod za statistiku Bosne i Hercegovine - Bilten
no.234, Sarajevo 1991.
Further reading
- City of Sarajevo. Fraternity cities.
- Maniscalco, Fabio (1997). Sarajevo. Itinerari artistici perduti
(Sarajevo. Artistic Itineraries Lost). Naples: Guida
- Prstojević, Miroslav (1992). Zaboravljeno Sarajevo (Forgotten
Sarajevo). Sarajevo: Ideja
- Valerijan, Žujo; Imamović, Mustafa; Ćurovac, Muhamed (1997).
Sarajevo. Sarajevo: Svjetlost
- My Life in Fire (a non-fiction story
of a child in a Sarajevo war)
- Mehmedinović,
Semezdin (1998). Sarajevo Blues.
San
Francisco: City
Lights
External links
Top topics
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Misc
Search
