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Almost three decades after being destroyed in a war bombing campaign in Bosnia, a museum honoring the memory of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics has been rebuilt and reopened.
The jewel of local architecture, built as a luxury villa in the early 20th century, was one of the first symbols of the city to be demolished by Serbian forces during the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 to 1995.
The Winter Olympics were organized a few years before the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia, a conflict that claimed some 100,000 lives in Bosnia and 11,000 in Sarajevo itself.
The reopening ceremony was attended by Prince Albert II of Monaco on Thursday and was led by Sarajevo Mayor Abdulah Skaka, who pledged to continue to mend the city’s architecture that still bears war scars, a quarter of a century after clashes.
“Our intention to rebuild all the destroyed symbols of this city is slowly becoming a reality. Tonight is the test, ”declared Skaka.
Bosnian artist Edin Numankadic, founder of the museum, managed to preserve much of the collections during the conflict by hiding them in the basement of the Zetra Olympic ice rink.
In an interview with AFP in 2019, Numankadic said the museum perpetuates “a rare happy memory” in the city’s tragic history.
The exhibition contains memorabilia such as photos, memorabilia and the equipment of some athletes, but also works that some artists have dedicated to the Sarajevo Winter Olympics, including those of Andy Warhol, Henry Moore, Michelangelo Pistoletto or James Rosenquist.
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