Since April 20th, 1896, the City Hall has witnessed all the events that have befallen Sarajevo for more than a century.
It changed purposes, rose from the ashes, even more defiant, more beautiful, and more splendid. In this unique architectural gem, culture and art live, and the future is created. A symbol of the spiritual vitality of the city, today it is an unavoidable tourist attraction.
Originally, it was the building of the then city administration and city government of Sarajevo. After the Second World War, until 1949, it served the city government as the building of the District Court of Sarajevo and the seat of the Bosnian and Herzegovinian (BiH) Assembly. After that, it became the City Library, that is, the National and University Library of BiH.
During the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995, the City Hall was shelled multiple times. On the night of August 25th to 26th, 1992, the City Hall was set on fire by a shell fired from the positions of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) near besieged Sarajevo, and in the fire disappeared the Catalog of the National and University Library of BiH, about 90 percent of the book collection and documents that testify to the history of BiH. It is estimated that the fire consumed about two million books, which spoke of the history of BiH and represented the national treasure of the country.
Thanks to the strength of understanding and solidarity of friends and partners, the City Hall was rebuilt and ceremonially opened on May 9th, 2014, on Europe Day and Victory Day over Fascism.
Its post-war reconstruction lasted 18 years so that this world symbol of the meeting of civilizations could rise from the ashes, stand defiantly upright, in its authentic magnificent edition.
All parts of the City Hall are reconstructed based on documents and photographs of the old City Hall found in the Kaptol Archive in Zagreb, so in the City Council room today there are wooden benches and a speaker’s podium, 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 walls in golden color are actually truly gold. Made using a special technique, they were coated with gold leaf dipped in paint, with a special brush made of camel hair.
Located not far from Bascarsija, on Mustaj-pasha’s square, the City Hall, although everything in it is new, still exudes the period in which it was built.
Inside it are now kept books and manuscripts of exceptional value and rarities, and it represents a multimedia center of culture, art, and economy of the City of Sarajevo and the state of BiH, where concerts, literary evenings, exhibitions, presentations, conferences, congresses, symposia, receptions, anniversary commemorations, weddings are held.
The Commission to Preserve National Monuments of BiH declared the City Hall a national monument of BiH in 2006, AA writes.
