One of the rare legacies of the previous war secured for next generations in its authentic shape is the War tunnel D-B, built on the 30th of July, 1993. This tunnel presented literally a ”light at the end of the tunnel” to all citizens of Sarajevo during the Siege. Twenty years later it testifies about the phenomenon of citizens of Sarajevo who stayed in this city and to whom it provided mere survival.
Food and medicine were carried into the city, wounded and exhausted people were also transported through the tunnel since it was the main entrance and exit corridor to various state delegations.
Since May last year, this war monument has been put under the jurisdiction of the Memorial Fund. From that point on various ideas sprung about better offer for tourists. Now this tunnel offers a museum exhibition with different showpieces from war and also offers a walk though a 25 meter long part of the tunnel, located under the airport runway which connected parts of Butmir and Dobrinja.
Numerous photographs in the museum exhibition provide a clear picture of the Siege of Sarajevo, while additional documents provide data that on average 329 grenades were fired on a daily basis to Sarajevo, while the 22nd of July 1993 is marked as the most tragic day in the history of the Siege, when 3.700 grenades were fired.
The curator of the museum Dina Memić presented the exhibition to the FENA Agency crew.
” The building of the tunnel began in January 1993. People were digging for 24 hours in three shifts, during four months and four days. They were putting the earth into bags and carried it to some other locations. Through this tunnel, electricity and petroleum were brought into the city via cables and pipes.”- said Memić
One of the documents exhibited is also Izetbegović’s order that wounded, sick and exhausted citizens had the priority of passing through the tunnel, and that all illegal activities, if occurred, had to be stopped. But one of the most touching sight of the museum is the never-ending list of all victims of the Siege of Sarajevo located near to various photographs of the city during the war.
”From May till December last year around 50.000 tourists visited the tunnel, 98% of them foreigners. That just makes it one of the most visited cultural institutions in the city.”- said Memić.
The fund and the museum have various plans for the future, but the first thing is to make the tunnel passable in its authentic length as it was during the war. The director of the Fund Nurudin Džiho said for FENA Agency:
”Our vision in the Fund is to provide tourists to pass on foot or by little train the 728 meters of the tunnel. We are trying to put back everything that was taken out of the tunnel in order to create a real and authentic impression as to how it was to pass through the tunnel during the war.”- said Džiho.
(Excerpts from the text written by Minja Lepušina)
