The City Hall, as one of the most beautiful and representative buildings from the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was set on fire on the night of August 25-26, 1992, during the siege of Sarajevo.
On the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the martyrdom of the Sarajevo City Hall, the renovated permanent exhibition “City Hall” was opened, a unique historical-museum space and materials, an exhibition of photographs by the author Rikard Larma, which enriched the content for visitors.
In the ceremonial hall, visitors can also see the exhibition of photographs by Almin Zrno “Edo Murtić – Where Words Are Not Enough”.
Meliha Redžić, head of the City Hall Service, reminded that today marks 31 years since the destruction of the City Hall.
“This year we will mark it in a very symbolic way, by opening the permanent exhibition of the City Hall. It is open to all visitors from today. This is a permanent exhibition of the City Hall that resembles a museum, with its space and structure. In addition to its rich content, from its construction until today, there we will highlight the exhibition of BiH photographer Rikard Larma,” said Redžić.
A special exhibition “The Town Hall in the Funds and Collections of the Sarajevo Historical Archive” by Saša Beltram was also opened.
“In addition to this space, we are also opening an exhibition in cooperation with the Historical Archives of Sarajevo, authored by Saša Beltram. We are repeating the exhibition of our photographer Almin Zrno,” explained Redžić.
On these two days, the Town Hall is open to all visitors and admission is free.
“The town hall is a symbol of the suffering of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of resistance,” added Redžić.
Saša Beltram, senior archivist of the Sarajevo Historical Archive, said that on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the suffering of the Town Hall, they tried to show the life path of the Town Hall through their collections and funds.
“On 11 panels you can see clippings from project documentation, postcards and photographs without which we cannot imagine the panorama of the city of Sarajevo, through various posters and announcements of events, to drawings for which the Town Hall served as inspiration. There are also clippings from newspapers about the reconstruction and re- the opening of the Town Hall. The oldest document on the panels are maps and photos of Sarajevo without the Town Hall, that is from 1892,” explained Beltram.
Director of JP Sarajevo, Bakir Hadžiomerović, said that the renewed permanent exhibition “City Hall” is a project that was started a long time ago and is now finished.
He also touched on the visits, stating that they are breaking records.
“The number of tickets for foreigners is increasing, which means that the tourist season was good. I think it will be better than last year,” Hadžiomerović added.
After the 1992 – 1995 war, the Town Hall was renovated and reopened in 2014.
The Sarajevo City Hall was built on April 20, 1896 and to this day represents one of the most beautiful buildings built during the Austro-Hungarian rule in the pseudo-Moorish style.
It was originally the building of the then city administration and city administration of Sarajevo. After the Second World War, until 1949, it served the city administration, as the building of the District Court of Sarajevo and the seat of the Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After that, it became the City Library, that is, the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, the City Hall was shelled several times.
On the night of August 25-26, 1992, it was set on fire from Serbian aggressor positions in the vicinity of besieged Sarajevo, and the catalog of the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 90 percent of the book collection and documents testifying to the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina disappeared in the fire. . It is estimated that the fire destroyed about two million books, which spoke about the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina and represented the country’s national treasure.
On the night of August 25-26, 1992, numerous citizens of Sarajevo together with the then employees tried to save some of the books from the fire, while they were exposed to constant sniper fire from the positions of the then Army of the Republika Srpska from the surrounding hills.
Thanks to the strength of understanding and solidarity of friends and partners, the Town Hall was renovated and officially opened on May 9, 2014, on Europe Day and Victory over Fascism Day. It rose again, even more defiant and even more beautiful.
Its post-war reconstruction lasted 18 years, so that this world symbol of the meeting of civilizations rose from the ashes, defiantly standing upright, in its authentic, luxurious appearance. It was also a victory for the city of Sarajevo and the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
All parts of the Town Hall were reconstructed based on documents and photos of the old Town Hall found in the Kaptolski archive in Zagreb, so the City Council room today has wooden benches and a lectern, and all the ornaments on the walls and ceiling are authentic and hand-painted.
Many things inside this beauty are specific. The edges of the gold-colored walls are actually really gold. Made with a special technique, they are coated with gold leaves dipped in paint, with a special brush made of camel hair.
Located not far from Baščaršija, on Mustaj Paša’s Maidan, Vijećnica, although everything is new in it, even today it exudes the period in which it was made.
It now houses books and manuscripts of exceptional value and rarities and represents a multimedia center of culture, art and economy of the City of Sarajevo and the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where concerts, literary evenings, exhibitions, presentations, conferences, congresses, symposia, receptions, celebrating anniversaries, weddings are held.
In 2006, the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina declared the Town Hall a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
