Founded in 1888, the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in central Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina is definitely the place to be.
There you can touch the heart of history, and walk trough the facts of different periods. In the middle of there is a botanical garden, where you will find many of the endemic flowers and plants found through out the country.
The museum was damaged in the war and some parts were recently renovated. A wide range of artefacts from areas including archaeology, art history, ethnology, geography, history and natural history will keep you there for hours.
The Sarajevo Haggadah, richly illuminated manuscript and the oldest Sephardic Jewish document in the world issued in Barcelona around 1350, is the most valuable exibit of the museum.
In 2017 this piece of art with an amazing story has been included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
As an uncharted Balkan country, Bosnia and Herzegovina piqued the interest of many Austro-Hungarian scholars, but also pseudo-scholars and treasure hunters. As a result, many cultural artefacts were taken out of the country. This sped up the realisation of the idea to establish a museum, which had long been brewing.
The original museum facilities in the town centre soon became inadequate for the growing collection, and so in 1909 construction began for a new museum complex comprising four pavilions and a botanic garden.
The facility was completed and inaugurated in 1913. It would long remain the only purpose-built museum complex in the former Yugoslavia. It houses the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day.
The great thing about this museum is that it offers tours and events for children. It is a good and educational way to introduce your kid to culture and history. If you want to do a good cause buying souvenirs here is an option, since the institution is self founded.
