Museum & Living Memory
War Childhood Museum
Sarajevo · Sarajevo & Olympic Mountains
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Museum & Living Memory
- COUNTRY
- Bosnia & Herzegovina
- REGION
- Sarajevo · Sarajevo & Olympic Mountains
- DURATION
- 1–2 days
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
The War Childhood Museum is a small, affecting museum in Sarajevo dedicated to the experience of childhood affected by war. Its permanent exhibition opened in January 2017 and is built not around weapons or politics but around personal objects and the first-person stories attached to them — a toy, a piece of clothing, a schoolbook, a homemade game — each lent or donated by people who lived through conflict as children. The result is an intimate, human-scale account of war seen through the eyes of the young, and it has become one of the most quietly powerful museums in the city.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
The museum grew out of a project by Jasminko Halilović, who in 2013 began collecting short written recollections from people who had been children during the siege of Sarajevo. The project gathered more than a thousand accounts, which were published and then developed into a collection of the physical objects those memories described. The permanent exhibition opened in Sarajevo in January 2017, presenting a curated selection of these objects together with the first-person stories behind them. Since opening, the museum’s work has expanded to collect and exhibit experiences of childhood affected by conflict beyond Bosnia, while its Sarajevo home remains the permanent exhibition that anchors it.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
The permanent Sarajevo exhibition — personal objects from the siege years, each displayed with the first-person story of the child who owned or remembers it.
The rotating selections from the wider collection — the museum periodically refreshes what is on display, so the objects and stories encountered can change between visits.
The first-person testimony — short written and recorded accounts that place each object in the lived context of a childhood under war.
The expanded scope — exhibits drawn from the museum’s work with experiences of conflict beyond Bosnia, presented alongside the Sarajevo collection.
WHY IT MATTERS
Why it matters
The War Childhood Museum does something few war museums attempt: it tells the story of conflict through the everyday objects and voices of children, without spectacle or sensationalism. For a visitor it offers a deeply personal entry into a history that is still within living memory, and it complements the city’s broader war heritage — the Tunnel of Hope and the siege walks — by focusing on the intimate, domestic side of survival. It is a quiet, thoughtful place, and one of the most humane museums in Sarajevo.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before you go
MAP & LOCATION
War Childhood Museum
War Childhood Museum, Sarajevo, Sarajevo & Olympic Mountains, Bosnia & Herzegovina
MORE ATTRACTIONS
More to see in Sarajevo
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Željo — the city’s most famous ćevapi, no-frills and perfect
Dveri — cosy cellar restaurant with modern Bosnian plates
Inat Kuća — traditional dishes in the defiant “House of Spite”
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Hotel Europe — the grande dame, open since 1882
Isa Begov Hamam Hotel — Ottoman charm beside the river
Hostel Franz Ferdinand — stylish budget base in the centre
ITINERARIES
Day-by-day routes
ROUTES
Routes through here
Mostar to Sarajevo via the Neretva Canyon
A classic Balkan ride north up the Neretva canyon — river, cliffs and forest from Mostar to Sarajevo.
130 km · 3 h · moderate
VIEW ROUTEBoračko Lake Ride — Sarajevo to Boračko Jezero via Konjic
A short Herzegovina escape: from Sarajevo over the Tarčin plateau to Konjic, then up the wooded Borač valley to the glacial green amphitheatre of Boračko jezero below Prenj.
82 km
VIEW ROUTETrebević Summit from Pogledine
An out-and-back ascent from Pogledine past Trebević’s Olympic bobsleigh track and forest paths to the Sofe summit area above Sarajevo.
16 km · 5.8 h · moderate
VIEW ROUTESkakavac Waterfall Loop
A forest loop from the Skakavac protected-area entrance to the viewpoint and foot of Sarajevo’s 98-metre waterfall.
9 km · 3.9 h · moderate
VIEW ROUTEPART OF
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