Cara Eckholm is a member of team of young researchers on the National Geographic. She is a specialist for urban geography, and she visited Sarajevo in 2014, where she explored the post-war reconstruction of the city.
Eckholm wrote and described the most important events since the end of the war until 2015 in her research diary, whose parts were occasionally published by the National Geographic.
Young researcher, among the other things, emphasized: “As we are approaching the 20th anniversary of the war, I’m noticing that the ethnic divisions affected the reconstruction of the city, since the citizens are now forming a new, multicultural B&H.”
In her study of Sarajevo and B&H, Cara Eckholm emphasized the struggle of B&H citizens for the positive values. She emphasized that the Winter Olympic Games in 1984 were the most beautiful fairy tale that ever happened to Sarajevo. She also pointed out the story of establishing the Museum of Contemporary Art Ars Aevi, which was established in the middle of the war, mostly thanks to the donations from artists. Today, the art collection is worth around 25 million USD. Even though the famous architect Renzo Piano designed the future look of Ars Aevi for free, the construction of this facility never happened, and the museum has been located in the “temporary” depot until today, wrote Eckholm.
Young scientist reminded in her report on the notable protest of citizens due to the problem of personal identification numbers for newborn babies back in 2013. She also mentioned the protests in February 2014 which, as she said, have united citizens in the fight against corruption, bad privatization, unemployment rate and many other problems.
“Citizens of Sarajevo are enjoying again in the National Museum, which was closed for 3 years. Furthermore, the City Hall was opened and restored in 2014. Historians say that the 20th century both started and ended in Sarajevo. It started with the assassination and ended with the siege of Sarajevo. It is hard not to accept a hug from citizens of this city. For all of that, this city has to be praised for the progress that was made since the siege until today. Basically, the 21st century in Sarajevo is remembered by the beautiful things, when compared to the previous century,” wrote Cara Eckholm as part of her memories on Sarajevo and B&H.
(Source: klix.ba)
