Sarajevo war ruins
Sarajevo still bears many scars from the siege during the war in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. While some of the most iconic damaged buildings (such as the
City Hall or the parliament building) have been renovated, others have been torn down, but yet others are still pretty much unchanged since the war.
More background info: see under
Sarajevo.
What there is to see: As the title suggests, buildings that were partly (or largely) destroyed during the shelling of Sajarevo in the war between 1992 and 1995. Almost all buildings sustained some degree of damage, but a few stand out and are worth a special mention here (NOTE: things change – I cannot guarantee that any of these ruins are indeed still in the state described and depicted here):
- The Old People's Home building – this is probably the most impressive of all of Sarajevo's war ruinsl. It is located off Bulevar Meše Selimovića, right next door to the Radon Plaza hotel and business centre not far from the airport. The building that apparently was to serve as an old people's home was brand new and not yet occupied when the war broke out. The guide I had when I visited Sarajevo in August 2009 pointed out that the fact that the building was unoccupied partly accounts for it being so drastically pockmarked with bullet holes: apparently, not all Bosnian Serb soldiers were keen on shooting at Sarajevo's civilian population, so some deliberately used up the rounds of ammunition allocated to them b disproportionately targeting this building, which they knew was empty. In any case, it is an eerie sight, the colourfully painted walls (in pink, blue, yellow, green etc.) riddled with bullet holes, and trees growing around and out of the gutted shell … In theory you could even go inside – the fence around the compound has gaps – and the graffiti on the upper floors is evidence of people having done so. In general, of course, you are however advised against entering any war ruins, even though I didn't spot any explicit keep-out signs here … The front of the tallest building facing the boulevard is partly used for putting advertising billboards on. When I visited, there was a huge advert for double-glazed windows – which I found a rather ironic sight on a completely windowless gutted ruin …
On my return trip to Sarajevo in April 2025 this ruin would not normally have been included in the Sarajevo Siege Tour I went on (organized by “Funky Tours”), but I asked my guide to make the detour specifically so I could check out the current state of the ruins. The trees and bushes within the compound had grown taller and part of a connecting bridge had collapsed, but otherwise it looked very much like what I had seen 16 years earlier. However, my guide also mentioned that the site may be doomed, as there are apparently housing development plans for the area that would involve the building’s demolition. That would be a real shame, as it is the visually most impressive of all the war ruins in Sarajevo and comes with such a special story …
- The
former Yugoslav Army barracks – when the war broke out, strong units with tanks were stationed here, in a large compound just south of the main train and bus stations, but the barracks had to be given up after a complete takeover of the city failed. Instead, the heavy guns were moved to their positions from where
Sarajevo was shelled during the siege – and one particular target was the former barracks. Part of the complex has been rebuilt and serves as the campus of Sarajevo's university, but on my visit back in 2009 at least one wing to the western edge of the premises still remained a derelict, roofless shell with trees growing inside the walls, cordoned off and with warning signs underscoring that entering the building would be dangerous. It's unclear for how much longer these ruins might remain, as building work all around was already encroaching on them when I was there (August 2009).
When I returned in 2025, most of the buildings had been either converted (mostly for the university) or demolished, except for a couple of single-storey ruins roughly in the centre of the complex. The walls of the buildings along the southern perimeter still showed signs of being riddled with bullet/shell holes, even though they have been patched up with cement.
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Residential high-rises next to the King Fahd Mosque – when I visited this location in 2009 it was a particularly odd contrast: the spanking new shiny mosque (as the name suggests, a donation from Saudi Arabia), in the Ali Pasha Polje/Mojmilo area of south-western
Sarajevo, and right next to it a set of still heavily war scarred apartment buildings. Some bigger holes in the walls had been mended in only a rough and ready way with bare bricks, some buildings had been fitted with new windows, but most of the shell holes in the facade still looked like they were made just yesterday. These buildings are not complete ruins, and they are inhabited, but it's precisely this fact that helps give a good impression of how hellish this war zone must have been …
UPDATE: in the meantime many shell holes have been patched up, but some remain visible, although on my return visit in April 2025 I saw them only from a distance, as these buildings were not included in my Sarajevo Siege Tour then. But you can still see plenty of war scars everywhere, if you keep your eyes open.
- On my guided tour in 2009 we also visited the ruin of what was supposedly a former Serb HQ position on a rock high above the southern hills over Sarajevo. Before the war it was a hotel (called Osmica) with a grand view over the city below. When the siege began, Bosnian Serb forces seized the hotel and used it as a snipers’ nest taking advantage of the nearly unobstructed view down to central Sarajevo. Allegedly the site was bombed by NATO towards the end of the war (so my guide claimed – I haven’t been able to independently find any reference to this). In 2009 we stopped there and explored the totally empty interior for a bit. On my return trip to Sarajevo in April 2025, my Sarajevo Siege Tour did not include a stop at this particular ruin, but we drove right past it and as far as I could see, nothing had changed there.
In addition there are the various ruins associated with the 1984 Olympics, such as the
old bobsleigh track on Mt Trebević, which is now quite easily accessible by means of the rebuilt cable car up the mountain, or the
former Hotel Igman and the
old ski jumps – as described briefly in the general
Sarajevo chapter in the section about the “Brutalism Tour” I did with “
Funky Tours” in April 2025.
Locations: in various places in different parts of
Sarajevo, some quite a distance from the city centre out of the centre:
Google Maps locators:
Access and costs: varies, from easily walkable to hardly accessible at all, unless on a guided tour, and from free to rather expensive (see
above).
Details: The ruins specifically described above are mostly by or near the main east-west boulevard through Novo Sarajevo and are thus fairly easily reachable by the tram lines that go along it – getting to the army barracks ruins would even be walkable as they're just beyond the train station. The more exotically located ruins can really only be accessed through guided tours.
Some of the ruins listed above formed part of a couple of tours I booked with “Funky Tours” in April 2025 (see
their sponsored page here), but there are also other operators that offer war-themed tours. And for as long as these ruins exist some such tours will include stops by them.
But as the remaining war ruins are gradually either restored or demolished, this category of dark sights in Sarajevo is “living” on borrowed time. Some have already largely disappeared, others are slated for demolition, in particular the old people’s home ruin. So do check ahead before venturing out to these sites if you want to go independently.
Time required: depends. Between just a short moment for a quick look and a longer “urbexing” exercise.
Combinations with other dark destinations: see
Sarajevo.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: see
Sarajevo.
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