About Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Today, when most people hear the word Sarajevo, they think of a war-torn European city under siege presented to them nightly in newscasts of graphic depiction. They do not consider the city nestled for centuries in the midst of the Alps. They do not even think of it as the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and they certainly do not know of its rich, cultural and religious heritage where Islam, Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Judaism lived mostly in religious harmony for centuries.

The rich heritage of Sarajevo

Built by the Ottoman Turks atop a Bosnian city previously destroyed, the city of Sarajevo has a rich history. Even the name Sarajevo speaks to its culturally rich heritage. It is a compound Persian word meaning “Governor’s Palace” combined with a word that includes the environs of that palace. Archeologists have posited that Sarajevo has been continuously inhabited for more than 10,000 years. The modern city traces its heritage to the building of a mosque by the Ottoman Turks in the year 1461.

Sarajevo today, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina

The world today thinks of Sarajevo, and even more so Bosnia, as the location of perhaps the most horrific crimes against humanity, where thousands lost their lives to bombs, artillery fire and snipers for three years of bloody fighting between the Serbs and the residents of Sarajevo. The siege of the city resulted in significant loss of life and mass exodus for a huge portion of the populace. On the positive side, many recognize Sarajevo as the location of one of the most exciting Winter Olympics ever to take place. It was held there in 1984. One of the fastest growing cities in Europe, Sarajevo distinguishes itself with new highways, buildings, tower skyscrapers, shopping locations and business centers.

Even though Sarajevo is a country with savage and brutal war in its recent history, it is a place with a rich history. As the fastest growing city in Europe, this capital of Bosnia-Herzogovina is flush with beauty, growing infrastructure and emerging businesses.