Explore Sarajevo / Destinations / Markale Market
Destination · Centar · 4 min read
Markale Market
Sarajevo's central food market, named for the Austro-Hungarian *Markthalle*. Site of the 1994 and 1995 mortar attacks that helped end the siege.
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Address
Mula Mustafe Bašeskije 33, Centar
Hours
Daily 06:00 to 16:00 (winter shorter)
Price
Free; pay vendors directly
Getting there
5 minutes' walk west of Sebilj along Ferhadija
Time needed
30–45 minutes, longer with a memorial pause
Best time
Saturday morning before 11:00
Coordinates
43.859° N 18.4234° E
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Markale is the open-air food market in the centre of Sarajevo, on Ferhadija street, halfway between the Sebilj and the Sarajevo Cathedral. The name is a Bosnianisation of the German Markthalle, the covered market hall built here during the Austro-Hungarian period. The hall is still standing behind the open market and still in use. Most of the food in central Sarajevo passes through this address.
Markale is also the address of one of the most painful chapters of the 1990s war. Two separate mortar attacks on the market, in 1994 and 1995, killed 111 civilians. The second of those attacks helped end the siege.
A working market
Open six mornings a week, the market sells fresh produce, dairy, honey, dried meats, cheeses, herbs, eggs, flowers, and pickles. Most of the vendors are women from villages around Sarajevo — Vlašić, Bjelašnica, the foothills of Igman. The produce is what is in season: in May, wild garlic, asparagus, and strawberries; in September, plums, mushrooms, and the first of the autumn squashes; in winter, root vegetables, dried meats, jars of ajvar and slatko.
The covered hall (the original Markthalle) behind the open market sells meat and dairy, including some of the best kajmak in central Sarajevo. The hall is also open six mornings a week.
Prices are modest. A jar of good honey runs 10 to 15 BAM. A wedge of village cheese, 8 to 12 BAM. A kilogram of seasonal fruit, 3 to 6 BAM. Cash works best. Card terminals are rare.
5 February 1994
On the morning of 5 February 1994, a single 120-millimetre mortar shell fell into the central pedestrian street directly outside the market entrance. 68 civilians were killed. 144 more were wounded. It was, at the time, the single deadliest attack of the siege.
The attack happened at lunchtime, when the market was full. The dead and wounded included shoppers, vendors, schoolchildren on their way home, and several international aid workers. International news cameras captured the immediate aftermath. The footage, broadcast across Europe and North America that evening, was the first time many Western viewers saw Sarajevo’s siege in detail.
A first NATO ultimatum to the Bosnian Serb forces followed within days. It was partially effective.
28 August 1995
On the morning of 28 August 1995, five mortar shells were fired into the same market. 43 people were killed. 75 more were wounded. The attack was investigated by the United Nations and traced to Army of Republika Srpska positions.
This attack was the trigger the international community had been failing to reach for three years. Within 48 hours, NATO launched Operation Deliberate Force, a sustained air campaign against Serb military positions around Sarajevo and across Bosnia. Combined with a Croatian and Bosnian ground offensive in western Bosnia, the airstrikes broke the military stalemate.
The Dayton Peace Agreement was negotiated three months later. The siege ended in February 1996.
In December 2003, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in the trial of the Bosnian Serb general Stanislav Galić, formally ruled that the Markale attacks had been carried out by forces under Serb command. Galić was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity.
The memorial
On the wall of the market, to the left of the main entrance, a small bronze plaque lists the names of the dead from both attacks. Two Sarajevo Roses are preserved in the pavement nearby — the largest is at the spot of the 1994 impact, where the petals are deepest.
The market continues to operate around them. Every morning Sarajevans buy their cheese, their eggs, their tomatoes. The plaque is at chest height. The roses are at foot level. Locals walk past both without remarking on them.
How to use the market
- Go on Saturday morning before 11:00 for the fullest selection and the best produce. Sunday is closed.
- Bring small bills. 5s, 10s, and 20s. Almost no one takes cards.
- Try things. Mogu li probati? (may I try?) is the right question. Tasting before buying is expected, especially for honey and cheese.
- Pause at the plaque. Reading the names takes about ninety seconds. It is the right ninety seconds.
The market is a working civic space, not a tourist attraction. The history is here, but the cheese is real. Treat both with the respect they ask for.
Sources & further reading
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Ph: Mark Chorlton · CC BY-SA 2.0
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