Explore Sarajevo / Destinations / Avaz Twist Tower
Destination · Marijin Dvor / Centar · 3 min read
Avaz Twist Tower
Sarajevo's tallest building. A public viewing deck on the 35th floor for five marks. The cheapest panoramic view in the Balkans.
- Established
- 2008
- By
- Faruk Kapidžić
- Altitude
- 142 m
Address
Tešanjska 24a, Sarajevo
Hours
Typically 10:00 to 22:00. Verify before going.
Price
~5 BAM (~€2.50) for the viewing deck
Getting there
5 minutes' walk from Marijin Dvor. Trams 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Marijin Dvor.
Time needed
30–60 minutes
Best time
An hour before sunset
Coordinates
43.8606° N 18.4025° E
Navigate
The Avaz Twist Tower is the tallest building in Sarajevo and, for a few years after it was completed, the tallest in the Balkans. It is also, improbably, home to one of the city’s least-touristed viewpoints: a small public observation deck on the 35th floor that, for about five Bosnian marks, gives you the whole valley.
A short architectural history
The tower was designed by the Sarajevan architect Faruk Kapidžić and built between 2006 and 2008 as the new headquarters of Dnevni Avaz, one of the largest daily newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It stands at the western end of the central business district, in the Marijin Dvor neighbourhood, opposite the National Museum and a short walk from the parliament buildings.
The design is unmistakable. The building rises in a series of glass-clad sections, each subtly rotated relative to the one below — about 1 degree of twist per floor, accumulating to roughly 45 degrees of total rotation between the base and the top. Total height about 142 metres, 36 floors above ground. From most angles it appears slightly wrenched, like a stack of glass boxes nudged out of alignment, which is the visual effect the architect was after.
The tower won the CTBUH Best Tall Building Award for Europe in 2009, one of the most respected architecture awards for skyscrapers, and remains one of the tallest buildings in the former Yugoslavia.
The viewing deck
Most people do not realise the top floor is public. It is, and the entry fee is laughably modest. For around 5 BAM (roughly €2.50) you take a lift to the 35th floor, where a small café-bar and a glass-walled observation gallery occupy the entire upper level. The lift ride is about a minute. The view is the entire valley.
You can see:
- South: directly across the river to Trebević and the ridge above the old town, with the cable car visible.
- East: the slow climb of Sarajevo into the bazaar, with the minarets of Baščaršija glinting in the afternoon sun.
- West: the long sprawl of new Sarajevo — Otoka, Alipašino Polje, the airport in the distance.
- North: the high northern slopes climbing toward Hum and the hill villages.
On clear days you see well past Bjelašnica and Igman, the great Olympic mountains to the west. At sunset the entire valley turns gold and one by one the streetlights come on while you stand there. Few cities give you their full geometry as legibly as this one does.
A small honest warning
The café at the top of the tower is not very good. The coffee is fine. The food is forgettable. The prices are higher than they should be. We mention this so you can plan around it. Take the view, then leave. Walk back into the city and have dinner at one of the many better places downhill.
How to visit
The tower is at Tešanjska 24a, a few minutes’ walk from the Marijin Dvor tram stop. Trams 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 all pass through Marijin Dvor. From there it is five minutes west toward the obviously-visible glass tower.
Opening hours are typically 10:00 to 22:00, though worth confirming, particularly in winter. The entrance to the viewing deck is at ground-floor reception. Pay at the desk, then take the dedicated express lift. Weekends and the hour before sunset are the busiest windows. At peak the lift can be slow. Outside those times you may have the entire 35th floor to yourself.
For the price of a coffee, you can see the city laid out as a map. Half an hour up here, an hour before sunset, is one of the most rewarding small experiences in Sarajevo.
Sources & further reading
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Ph: Desemeus · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Ph: Julian Nyča · CC BY-SA 3.0
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Baščaršija
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Ph: isaleal · CC BY 2.0
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The Olympic Bobsled and Luge Track
Built for the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Games and last raced for the 1991 World Cup, the bobsled and luge track on Mount Trebević became a Bosnian Serb Army mortar position during the 1992–95 siege and was never restored. The 1,300-metre concrete chute is still there, weathered, sniper-marked, painted over by a generation of urban-art graffiti, walkable on foot from the upper cable-car station. One of the more affecting twenty-minute walks in Europe.
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