Interactive Survival Map

Emerging directly from the lived experience of the siege, this cartographic project documents the physical and social geography of survival in Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996. Combining first-hand testimonies with military maps and photographic records, it charts sniper zones, the altered urban landscape, water collection points, survival gardens, key sites, anti-sniper protection, hospitals, improvised transport routes, venues for cultural events, and pedestrian passages.

Originally hand-drawn, the map is now reimagined as an interactive platform that not only depicts life and death under siege but also deepens understanding of survival and resilience among the citizens of Sarajevo. The digital map enables users to explore designated locations and access layered content on specific sites and themes. Drawing on archival materials from across FAMA projects, the map integrates multiple sources into a single, navigable interface as part of a dedicated knowledge transfer module.

Among the many attempts to visualise history, this map stands out because of the uniqueness of Sarajevo’s experience: a European city at the end of the twentieth century found itself under the longest siege in the history of warfare. For four years, residents were unable to leave the city, which remained under the global media spotlight 24 hours a day.

The Survival [Siege] Map was created based on documents and photographs taken during the blockade, in an effort to capture, within a single image, the transformed geography of a city cut off from the world, even as it remained under the global media’s gaze. The map is a testament to a city that survived by building an entirely new civilisation upon the ruins of the old, relying on recycling, solar energy, water purification tablets, and satellite communications. It details every aspect of survival and explains how key urban infrastructure adapted under siege. The map reveals hidden pathways, secret tunnels, and special movement corridors devised to escape constant sniper fire. It shows how parks became gardens, roses were replaced by corn, electricity by medieval lamps, central heating by handmade stoves, and running water by distant collection points accessed with canisters. Recreation became running under sniper fire; nutrition came from backyard crops; television was replaced by live conversation; and art became a form of resistance.

For future generations studying the siege and the fall of Yugoslavia, this map will provide essential insights into the city’s geography and the conditions shaped by its prolonged isolation.

Users can move freely across the map to explore its visual content. By clicking on designated icons, a “content section” opens, providing additional insight into the selected site/topic through text, photographs, and videos. Each “content section” contains seven universal categories:

Site
Provides background information on the selected location and its altered or adapted function during the siege.

Macro Story
An editorially curated narrative that documents individual resilience, innovation, and creativity within a specific thematic context, drawing on materials from the FAMA Collection.

Video Guide
A documentary-based collection organised by themes, showing how the citizens of Sarajevo responded to the mechanism of terror through ingenuity and creativity, strengthening resilience.

Resilience
Offers additional insight into individual and collective resilience, highlighting work, creativity and innovation as methods of survival.

Photo Archive
Photographs from the FAMA Archives related to the selected site and its broader thematic context.

Video Oral History
Selected interviews from FAMA’s video oral history collection, connected to the site, event, and wider topic associated with that location.

Note
Although each “content section” includes seven categories, the types of content available may vary by site or theme.