National Museum

The National Museum, located across the street from the Holiday Inn, was on the front line, as the Miljacka river separated it from the occupied Grbavica territory. Its windows were covered by UNHCR plastic sheets which has replaced the glass. The sheeting was the UNHCR gift to the museum which is regarded as the oldest cultural and scientific institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Established in 1888, the museum is situated in a monumental Neo-renaissance style edifice which includes the botanical gardens, the site of precious medieval tombstones (stećci). The museum houses the departments of archaeology, ethnography and natural sciences. It was impossible to protect the large number of exhibits, but in spite of the shelling they were not directly hit. The most valuable exhibits, like the famous Sarajevo Haggadah, had been removed to safer places. A part of the museum burnt down and the building was hit by more than 420 shells, according to museum statistics. In front of the museum there stood a UN transporter which was supposed to protect the citizens riding in the trams. A lot of people were killed and injured in that spot. It was in this spot that the last victims in the city were killed after the signing of the Dayton agreement when a tram was hit by a shell.