History Museum, Sarajevo

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During my most recent visit to Sarajevo; I was able to have some time to visit some of the city's museums.

I made a visit to this museum on a Thursday afternoon, and discovered that there was a launch event for a new exhibition. It focussed on the more recent history from the war which was being commemorated that particular week (20th anniversary).

The main collection looks at the BiH history from the arrival of the Slavs on the Balkan peninsula to the present day. During my visit they had several exhibitions running - I truly enjoyed the war time collection, which showed the images, diaries and personal records from the war which started in 1992.

Check out the work of Ron Haviv and Miguel Ruiz.

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In a building badly damaged during the Siege, visitors can get a sense of the horrors of daily life under constant threat of sniper fire. The History Museum of BiH is located beside the National Museum and contains two floors of exhibits: one chronicles the history of the area, the other focuses on life during the siege. The latter is the one that will take most of your time and emotional energy- display cases showcase artifacts and photos ranging from guns to canned soup, blood-stained school bags to grenades. Evidence of people trying to live normal lives despite being surrounded by chaos is breathtaking. The impact of the war lives on at this museum; although there is an exterior courtyard exhibit, it is off-limits to visitors as the area is not structurally sound.

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Sarajevo through the ages and a permanent exhibition of the siege, this is incredibly moving and reduced Mrs B to tears, it's well done with no judgement and really should be visited.