Sarajevo has more layers than most cities twice its size. This glossary is the site’s entity index — every building, person, place, concept, event, and institution that Explore Sarajevo covers, defined in one or two sentences with dates, coordinates, and links to the full treatment on the site. Use it as a lookup when a name appears in a story and you want the short version first.<nav class="glossary-nav" aria-label="Glossary sections">Buildings (15)Persons (12)Places (12)Concepts (6)Events (6)Institutions (4)</nav><section class="glossary-section" id="building" aria-labelledby="heading-building">
Buildings
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Ashkenazi Synagogue (1902)
A 1902 Moorish-revival synagogue on the south bank of the Miljacka, designed by Karel Pařík. Built for the post-1878 Jewish community. Still active.
Also known as: Ashkenazi Temple
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Avaz Twist Tower (2008)
Sarajevo's tallest building at 142 metres, completed 2008. Designed by Faruk Kapidžić. A public viewing deck on the 35th floor costs around 5 BAM.
Also known as: Avaz Tower
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Cathedral of the Nativity of the Theotokos (1863–1872)
The largest Serbian Orthodox church in Bosnia, consecrated 1872. Attributed to Andrija Damjanov. Byzantine-revival exterior with gold iconostasis. Part of Sarajevo's four-faith walking radius.
Also known as: Sarajevo Orthodox Cathedral, Saborna crkva
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Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque (1531)
The 1531 Ottoman mosque at the centre of Baščaršija, designed by Acem Esir Ali of Tabriz. The largest Ottoman religious-civic complex in the western Balkans. Active for nearly five centuries.
Also known as: Begova džamija
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Hotel Europe (1882)
Sarajevo's first Habsburg hotel, designed by Karel Pařík in 1882. Burned after the 1914 assassination, siege-damaged 1992–1995, restored 2008.
Also known as: Hotel Evropa
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Inat Kuća (1890s)
An Ottoman house moved stone by stone across the Miljacka in 1894 because the owner refused to sell to the Habsburg administration building the City Hall. Now a restaurant.
Also known as: Spite House, Inat kuća
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Isa-Begov Hamam (c. 1462)
Sarajevo's oldest hammam, founded around 1462 by the city's founder Isa-beg Ishaković. Restored 2010–2014 as a working Ottoman-style spa.
Also known as: Isa-bey's Hammam
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Morića Han (1551)
Sarajevo's only surviving Ottoman caravanserai, built 1551 on Sarači as part of the Gazi Husrev-beg endowment. The courtyard coffeehouse is one of the oldest active in the city.
Also known as: Morića Han caravanserai
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National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1888)
Bosnia's national museum, opened 1 February 1888. Current four-pavilion complex built 1909–1913 by Karel Pařík. Houses archaeology, ethnology, natural history, a botanical garden, and the Sarajevo Haggadah.
Also known as: Zemaljski muzej
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Sacred Heart Cathedral (1884–1889)
Sarajevo's Roman Catholic cathedral, built 1884–1889 by Josip Vancaš in neo-Gothic style. Seat of the Vrhbosna archdiocese. On Ferhadija, three minutes' walk from the Ottoman bazaar.
Also known as: Katedrala Srca Isusova
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Sarajevska Pivara (1864)
Sarajevo's working brewery, founded 1864 by Josef Feldbauer. The oldest industrial plant in Bosnia. Its natural water source supplied the city through the 1992–1996 siege.
Also known as: Sarajevo Brewery
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Sebilj (1753)
An Ottoman wooden drinking fountain at the centre of Baščaršija, built in 1753 by Hadži-Mehmed paša Kukavica. Restored by Alexander Wittek in 1891. The square around it is Sarajevo's informal centre.
Also known as: Sebilj fountain, Baščaršija fountain
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Tunnel of Hope (1993)
An 800-metre tunnel dug by hand under the airport runway between March and July 1993 during the siege. The Kolar family museum preserves a 25-metre section of the original passage.
Also known as: Tunel spasa, Tunnel D-B
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Vijećnica (1896)
The 1896 pseudo-Moorish city hall on the Miljacka, designed by Karel Pařík, Alexander Wittek, and Ćiril Iveković. National and University Library from 1949. Burnt during the siege on 25 August 1992. Reopened 2014.
Also known as: City Hall, National and University Library
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Zetra Olympic Hall (1983)
The 1984 Olympic figure-skating and ice-hockey venue. Roof burned in the siege; floor became a temporary morgue. Rebuilt 1999, now the city's working arena.
Also known as: Juan Antonio Samaranch Olympic Hall
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Persons
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Alexander Wittek (1852–1894)
Austrian architect who designed the Sebilj restoration (1891) and the exterior decoration of Vijećnica. Killed himself in 1894 while the City Hall was under construction. Karel Pařík completed the project.
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Dušan Grabrijan (1899–1952)
Slovenian architect trained under Jože Plečnik. Co-authored Arhitektura Bosne i put u savremeno (1957) with Juraj Neidhardt. Their book, with a preface by Le Corbusier, reframed Ottoman Bosnian architecture as a modernist resource.
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Gavrilo Princip (1894–1918)
Bosnian Serb who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, at the northern end of the Latin Bridge on 28 June 1914. The event triggered the First World War.
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Gazi Husrev-beg (c. 1480–1541)
Ottoman governor who built the largest religious-civic complex in the western Balkans in 1531: mosque, madrasa, clock tower, covered bezistan, and public kitchen. Left his entire fortune to the city as a waqf endowment.
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Isa-beg Ishaković (c. 1400s)
Ottoman governor of the Bosnian sanjak who founded Sarajevo in 1462. Established five core institutions: a hammam, a mosque (later Careva džamija), a hostel, a market, and a bridge.
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Ivan Štraus (1932–2021)
Bosnian architect and architectural historian. Designed the Sarajevo Airport terminal (1967) and wrote extensively on the city's built heritage across all periods.
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Josip Vancaš (1859–1932)
Slovenian architect who designed the Sacred Heart Cathedral (1884–1889), the Main Post Office (1913), and numerous other Habsburg-era Sarajevo buildings. The most prolific architect of the Austro-Hungarian period in Bosnia.
Also known as: Josip Vancaš-Požeški
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Juraj Neidhardt (1901–1979)
Croatian-Bosnian architect trained in Le Corbusier's Paris studio (1933–1935). Co-authored Arhitektura Bosne i put u savremeno (1957) with Dušan Grabrijan. Designed the 1960 Marijin Dvor master plan and shaped forty years of Sarajevan modernism.
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Karel Pařík (1857–1942)
Czech architect who worked in Sarajevo from 1884 until his death in 1942. Designed over seventy buildings, including the National Museum complex (1909–1913), Hotel Europe (1882), and the Ashkenazi Synagogue (1902). Drew the first rejected plan for Vijećnica.
Also known as: Karl Paržík
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Nedim Hadzimahmutovic (present)
Editor and author of Explore Sarajevo. Born in Sarajevo, lived in the city for about twenty years, returned in late 2025.
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Zlatko Ugljen (1929–2018)
Bosnian architect whose canonical work is the Šerefudin's White Mosque in Visoko (1969–1980), winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983. Taught for decades at the University of Sarajevo Faculty of Architecture.
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Ćiril Iveković (1864–1933)
Croatian architect who designed Brčko Town Hall (1891) in the same pseudo-Moorish style as Vijećnica, and contributed to the Vijećnica project alongside Wittek and Pařík.
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Places
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Baščaršija (1462)
Sarajevo's Ottoman bazaar, founded in 1462 by Isa-beg Ishaković. Still a working bazaar with copper workshops on Kazandžiluk, Bosnian coffee at Morića Han, and the Sebilj fountain at its centre.
Also known as: The Old Bazaar
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Ferhadija (restructured 1879–1918)
The Habsburg pedestrian street running west from Baščaršija to the Eternal Flame. The seam where Ottoman Sarajevo becomes Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo.
Also known as: Ferhadija street
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Ilidža
The western municipality of Sarajevo, 12 km from the centre. Home to Vrelo Bosne, the Velika Aleja, and the site of the Roman spa Aquae Sulphurae. The Tunnel of Hope is in the Butmir district of Ilidža.
Also known as: Ilidža municipality
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Kazandžiluk (15th century)
The coppersmiths' street running east from the Sebilj into Baščaršija. Five centuries of the same trade, still hammering the same patterns in open workshops.
Also known as: Coppersmiths' Street
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Kovači (15th century)
The cobbled climb from the Sebilj toward Vratnik. Once the blacksmiths' quarter, now Sarajevo's café row, ending at the Kovači war cemetery where Alija Izetbegović is buried.
Also known as: Kovači Street
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Latin Bridge (1798–1799)
A four-arch Ottoman stone bridge over the Miljacka. The corner where Gavrilo Princip shot Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 is at the northern end.
Also known as: Latinska ćuprija, Principov most
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Marijin Dvor
The administrative and institutional district west of Baščaršija along Zmaja od Bosne boulevard. Home to the National Museum, the History Museum, the Parliament, and the Holiday Inn.
Also known as: Marindvor
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Old Jewish Cemetery (c. 1630)
Founded around 1630 on the slopes above Kovačići. Around 3,850 Sephardic tombstones in seven plots. On UNESCO's Tentative List since 2018 (Ref. 6334). Closed for burials in 1966.
Also known as: Staro jevrejsko groblje
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Trebević (cable car 1959, reopened 2018)
The mountain ridge south of Sarajevo. Nine-minute cable car to 1,164 metres, the abandoned 1984 Olympic bobsled track, and pine forest above the city.
Also known as: Mount Trebević
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Vratnik
The old Ottoman residential neighbourhood on the hills above Baščaršija. Narrow lanes, steep cobblestones, and the remains of the Ottoman-era city walls.
Also known as: Vratnik mahala
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Vrelo Bosne
The source of the Bosna river at the foot of Mount Igman. Cold springs, a 3.5 km Habsburg avenue of plane trees (Velika Aleja, planted 1885), and a 19th-century park.
Also known as: Source of the Bosna, Ilidža springs
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Žuta Tabija (1727–1739)
An 18th-century Ottoman bastion above the old town on the hill of Jekovac. During Ramadan a cannon fires here at sundown. The rest of the year, Sarajevo's best free viewpoint.
Also known as: Yellow Fortress
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Concepts
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Bosanska kafa
Coffee prepared in a džezva (long-handled copper pot), poured into a fildžan (small handleless cup), served with sugar cubes and a piece of rahat lokum. Not Turkish coffee — the Bosnian preparation and ritual are distinct.
Also known as: Bosnian coffee
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Inat
The Bosnian capacity for spite-as-principle — stubbornness elevated to a point of honour. The Inat Kuća (Spite House) is the canonical example: its owner made the Habsburg administration move it across the river stone by stone rather than sell.
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Mahala
A traditional residential neighbourhood in an Ottoman town. Typically small, intimate, centred on a mosque and a water source. Sarajevo's hillside mahalas — Vratnik, Kovači, Alifakovac — preserve the pattern.
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Sevdah
A Bosnian musical and emotional tradition rooted in longing. The song form, sevdalinka, was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2024. From the Arabic sawda (black bile).
Also known as: sevdalinka (the song form)
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Ćejf
The slow, deliberate enjoyment of a small pleasure — typically a coffee, taken without hurry. The operating philosophy of Sarajevan café culture. From the Turkish keyif.
Also known as: keyf, kejf
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Čaršija
The market district of an Ottoman town. In Sarajevo, čaršija refers to the commercial area of Baščaršija, organised by trade — coppersmiths on Kazandžiluk, leather workers on Sarači, jewellers on Kujundžiluk.
Also known as: çarşı
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Events
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1984 Winter Olympics (8–19 February 1984)
The XIV Olympic Winter Games, held in Sarajevo. Venues included Zetra (figure skating), Trebević (bobsled and luge), Bjelašnica and Igman (alpine and Nordic skiing). Eight years later the venues became front-line positions.
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Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (28 June 1914)
Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, at the northern end of the Latin Bridge. The event triggered the July Crisis and the First World War.
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Foundation of Sarajevo (1462)
Isa-beg Ishaković, Ottoman governor of the Bosnian sanjak, establishes the city's five core institutions on the Miljacka floodplain: a hammam, a mosque, a hostel, a market, and a bridge. Baščaršija grows outward from the market.
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Habsburg occupation of Bosnia (1878)
The Berlin Treaty of 1878 granted Austria-Hungary the right to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina. The military campaign began on 29 July 1878. Civil administration under Benjamin von Kállay followed from 1882, transforming Sarajevo's infrastructure and architecture.
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Sarajevo Film Festival (founded 1995)
A European film festival founded during the siege in 1995 by Obala Art Centar. Now one of the largest in southeast Europe, running annually in August. The main venue is the National Theatre.
Also known as: SFF
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Siege of Sarajevo (5 April 1992 – 29 February 1996)
The longest siege of a capital city in modern warfare — 1,425 days. Bosnian Serb forces besieged Sarajevo from the surrounding hills. Around 11,500 people killed, including over 1,600 children. The Tunnel of Hope was the city's only lifeline.
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Institutions
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Galerija 11/07/95 (2012)
A memorial gallery dedicated to the Srebrenica genocide of 11 July 1995. Founded by photographer Tarik Samarah. Located on Trg fra Grge Martića in central Sarajevo.
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History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (1945)
The state history museum at Marijin Dvor, designed by Boris Magaš, Edo Šmidihen, and Radovan Horvat (1958). Houses the most substantial exhibition on the 1992–1995 siege.
Also known as: Historijski muzej BiH
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Sarajevo Haggadah (c. 1350)
A Sephardic illuminated manuscript of the Passover Haggadah, produced in northern Spain in the second half of the 14th century. Held by the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1894. Inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register in 2017.
Also known as: Hagada
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War Childhood Museum (2017)
A museum founded by Jasminko Halilović, based on one-sentence testimonies from people who were children during the 1992–1995 siege. Winner of the Council of Europe Museum Prize in 2018.
Also known as: Muzej ratnog djetinjstva
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