We were greatly looking forward to our visit to Sarajevo. As
the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina, a now independent country that is still
amidst restoration after being ravaged by war in the 90’s, formerly part of the
Yugoslavian Republic, and under Communism for most of its modern history, we
knew that we were going to have a lot to see and a lot to learn. According to
every guide book type source though, Sarajevo’s night life is fully repaired and
it is quite an exciting European capital. We were also hopeful that after
failing on finding somewhere to ski so far, we might get an opportunity here.
Arriving in Sarajevo a couple of its features struck us
prominently: the first is that it is a beautiful city with a lot of historical
buildings, a well-maintained old town, nice views from the hill the city is
built on, and spectacular countryside surrounding it. The other feature though
is the much more surreal fact that a vast majority of the buildings –
historical, Soviet, residential, commercial, central and suburban alike – are
covered in bullet holes. Many of them have been patched in places of structural
importance, but very few have been done up cosmetically, and even fewer have
been entirely re-built.
The Tunnel Museum, located near the airport on the outskirts
of Sarajevo was, as far as we were concerned, a must-see. A small museum has
been put together around the remaining 20m section of the supply tunnel that
was built and used during the Serbian-inflicted Sarajevo Siege. Lasting for almost
four years, making it the longest siege in modern history, claiming around
12,000 lives, and leaving Bosnia Herzegovina’s capital city in a state of
extreme devastation and disrepair, this part of the country’s history is
amongst the most horrific and confronting that we’ve come across. The tunnel
ran for almost 1,000m underneath the UN controlled air base, connecting
Sarajevo to the rest of the Bosniac controlled areas. country which was not
under siege, and providing the only means of transportation for food, medical
equipment, and military supplies to the city itself.
The museum was relatively difficult to find, as even though
there are signs from the main road towards the museum, there are no directions
once you get to the windy and un-marked side streets. We found ourselves taking
a wrong turn and ending up approaching the secure zone around the still heavily
militarised airport, where we were of course stopped by police. Using the
“thankyou so much for stopping us, please help us with directions” method of
avoiding questioning, which in this case was more than the truth, but has
served us very well previously, we were pointed towards the museum. Down a
couple of pot-holed side streets and past some more abundantly bullet-holed
homes, we came to the humble museum.
Costing only 5 Marks (AU$3.30) to enter the small but very
tactful and heart-wrenching museum, the experience was well worth it. We were
welcomed with a video about the war and specifically the role this tunnel
played in it, which of course we couldn’t understand the words of, but the
pictures said enough. We were then shown the remaining section of tunnel, a few
individual stories, some products from the time, and of course pictures of the
tunnel in use. One particular display that pulled at the heart strings was the
chair that was designed for the disabled leader of the country at the time to
run on the rails inside the tunnel. Despite his physical disability, and the
fact that he could have used this as an escape route to take himself to safety
and relative comfort, he helped the project and nobly returned to Sarajevo just
as everyone else did.
Even at such a site, there is always someone trying to take
advantage of others and make a buck at every opportunity. The owner of the
house next door to this one advertised on the street that there was museum
parking, and when we went in, he tried to charge us even though the museum
itself provides free parking and is located on a dirt road, next to fields, on
the very outskirts of town where parking is acceptable anywhere. Not only this
but he also had a little stall of tacky souvenirs completely unrelated to this
museum, set up just on his side of the fence separating the two properties,
which he stood next and spruiked for as we explored the exhibits in the museum.
It is so sad that even something so noble, put together by non-profiteering individuals
for the sake of preserving this important piece of Sarajevo’s history, should
be tarnished by this type of obnoxious selfishness.
The History Museum, located across the road from the largest
US Embassy in Europe, is inside a building which represents the pinnacle of
Soviet architecture. As we drove past, the broken windows, myriads of graffiti
and rubbish, and boarded-up main entrance almost had us convinced that the
museum, at least at this location, was closed. Fortunately though we decided to
stop and have a quick check and lo and behold, the grey cement block had just
been left to disrepair but was in fact still working as the History Museum.
Strangely enough it was even colder inside the building than it was outside – a
testament to the unique standard of building implemented by the Soviet Union. The array of artefacts, posters, people’s
belongings, diary entries, advertising, photographs and memorabilia relating to
the Sarajevo Siege was highly insightful and we could have spent hours
inspecting each exhibit individually. Unfortunately though the day was drawing
to a close and we planned to go on a free walking tour at 4pm.
We rushed back to the centre of town and to the meeting
point for the tour which happened to be the office of the organiser. When we
arrived though, we were informed that he had decided for undisclosed reasons
that the tour which “runs every day without fail” wouldn’t run today. We
suspect that cups of tea in his nicely heated office was most enticing than
dragging a handful of tourists around the city at dusk.
Much to our delight we succeeded in our endeavour of fitting
in a day of skiing, and not just at any old mountain, but at the location of
the men’s events at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics. The two mountains which
hosted the men’s and women’s events – Bjelašnica and Jahorina respectively
– are located not far from the city itself and make a very convenient day trip.
We chose to go toBjelašnica, and whilst being great fun, was certainly a
challenge! Runs marked as “intermediate” at this mountain are harder than most
“expert” runs in Australia, and we disappointedly realised that despite our
best intentions, we in fact probably aren’t Winter Olympics material. It was a
bit of a stretch, but a very fitting start to our European ski season. Even
after 29 years, the souvenir shops of Sarajevo are still littered with
merchandise and advertising for the 1984 Winter Olympics.
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