An object, a name, a sentence
Most of what’s inside the War Childhood Museum was mailed, carried or handed over the counter by someone who is now an adult. A worn stuffed toy. A bicycle bell. A pair of ice skates. A school exercise book with drawings in the margins. Each item sits behind glass with the name of the person who donated it, the year they were born, and a short text — usually a paragraph, sometimes just a line — written in their own words about what the object meant during the siege of Sarajevo. There’s no narrator’s voice threading the rooms together. The visitor moves from one person’s sentence to the next.
The museum grew out of a book project started by Jasminko Halilović, who was a child in Sarajevo during the 1992–1996 siege. He began collecting one-sentence answers to the question “what was a war childhood?” from people across the former Yugoslavia, then extended the project into objects. The physical museum opened in Baščaršija in January 2017 and won the Council of Europe Museum Prize in 2018 — the first Bosnian museum to receive it. Its collection has since grown to include testimony from other conflicts, but the Sarajevo siege remains the core of what’s on display.
This is not a chronology of the war and it doesn’t try to be. There are no maps of front lines, no explanation of who besieged the city or why, no timeline of the 1,425 days. If you want that framework, the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina covers the mechanics of the siege directly, and a guided siege tour will walk you through the geography of it — where the front lines ran, where Sniper Alley got its name, how the tunnel under the airport kept the city supplied.
The War Childhood Museum sits deliberately apart from that register. It is about what it felt like to be young while all of that was happening around you, told through what people kept.
Where it is and how to get there
The museum is on Logavina street, in the old town, an easy 10-minute walk from the Sebilj fountain at the centre of Baščaršija — worth combining with a wider Baščaršija walk either before or after. It’s also close enough to the Latin Bridge and the Ottoman core of the city that most visitors reach it on foot rather than by tram. There’s no dedicated parking; if you’re driving, park near Baščaršija and walk in.
Entry runs around 10 KM (about 5 EUR) — broadly in line with the city’s other single-site museums, such as the Vijećnica at roughly the same price. Signage and the object captions are in Bosnian and English throughout, so an audio guide or guided tour isn’t necessary to follow what you’re reading. Most visitors spend 60 to 90 minutes inside; it’s a small museum, not a sprawling one, and the format — read a short text, look at an object, move to the next — sets its own pace rather than demanding a full afternoon. Opening hours vary slightly by season, so check the current times before you go rather than assuming it matches nearby attractions.
What you’ll actually see inside
The permanent exhibition is arranged by object rather than by date or event. A visitor moves past display cases each holding one donated item and its accompanying text — the donor’s name, birth year, and their own account of the object’s significance. Some are ordinary: a football, a music cassette, a pair of roller skates that a child kept using between shelling because playing outside, however briefly, still mattered.
Others are more directly tied to the siege itself — a piece of shrapnel kept as a memento, a ration card, a diary with entries from specific dates. The range is the point: childhood during the siege wasn’t only fear and loss, and it wasn’t only ordinary play either. Both are represented, without either being softened or dramatised.
A second part of the museum uses video testimony — short recorded interviews with people (now adults) recalling specific memories, played on screens set into the exhibition route. These sit alongside the object displays rather than replacing them, and they’re subtitled in English.
Because the museum has expanded its scope since opening, you may also see objects and testimony from children affected by more recent conflicts elsewhere. The Sarajevo material remains the largest and most developed part of the collection, and it’s what most visitors come for, but it’s worth knowing the exhibition isn’t exclusively about Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Photography policy varies — check at the entrance rather than assuming — and regardless of the rule, this is not a museum where visitors photograph exhibits for effect. Nothing about the presentation invites it.
How it differs from Sarajevo’s other war museums
Sarajevo has several museums that deal with the 1992–1996 period, and it’s easy to conflate them before visiting. They cover different ground and are worth telling apart in advance:
| Museum | What it covers | Register |
|---|---|---|
| War Childhood Museum | Personal objects and first-person testimony from people who were children during the siege | Individual, intimate, object-led |
| Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina | The chronology and mechanics of the siege itself: front lines, daily survival, the city under fire | Documentary, chronological |
| Gallery 11/07/95 | The July 1995 genocide at Srebrenica, through photography and survivor accounts | Grave, specifically about Srebrenica |
| Tunnel of Hope Museum | The rescue tunnel dug under the airport runway, and how the city stayed supplied | Practical, site-specific |
None of these substitute for each other, and visiting more than one on the same day is common — see a fuller comparison in the guide to Sarajevo’s war museums. If you’re planning to visit all four, spacing them across two days tends to work better than stacking them back to back; the material is dense regardless of how it’s presented.
Combining it with the rest of central Sarajevo
Because it sits inside the old town, the War Childhood Museum fits naturally into a slower Baščaršija walk rather than requiring a special trip. A common half-day pairing: the museum first, while you’re still fresh, followed by a coffee break in Baščaršija and a walk past the Sebilj fountain and the Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque, finishing at the Latin Bridge a few minutes further on. If you’re building a full first day in the city around this kind of route, the one-day Sarajevo guide lays out a sequence that includes it.
Visitors who want deeper context on the siege before or after the museum tend to follow one of two paths: either a guided walk that covers the siege directly, or independent reading beforehand. For the guided route:
a guided siege tour that covers the front lines, Sniper Alley and the city’s defence gives the military and geographic framework that the War Childhood Museum deliberately leaves out.
A broader option covering more of the city’s layered history — Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Yugoslav and wartime — is a walking tour through Sarajevo’s history across centuries, useful if this is your first stop in the city rather than a follow-up to other sites.
For visitors also planning to see the Tunnel of Hope near the airport, a guided bike route that includes entry to the Tunnel of Hope covers ground that’s awkward to reach without a car or organised transport.
None of these tours substitute for the museum itself — the object-and-testimony format doesn’t translate to a guided commentary — but they’re useful either side of it for anyone who wants the fuller picture.
Visiting respectfully
The museum’s own format sets the tone for how to move through it: read, look, move on, without commentary of your own that turns someone else’s memory into a talking point. The objects were given voluntarily by people who chose to have their childhood displayed to strangers; the least a visitor owes them is attention rather than a photo taken quickly and moved past.
For general guidance that applies across the city’s war-related sites, see the guide to visiting Sarajevo respectfully, and for background on the broader conflict — useful preparation before or after the museum rather than something the museum itself explains — the guide to Bosnian war context for visitors is a reasonable starting point.
If you’re travelling with children, the museum is generally suitable — much of what’s displayed was, after all, made and kept by children — but a few sections, particularly the video testimony, are more affecting than others, and it’s worth a quick look at the layout before deciding how you want to move through it as a family.
Practical notes
Bring cash for the entry fee; card acceptance at smaller Sarajevo museums is inconsistent, and 10 KM in coins or small notes avoids any friction at the desk. There’s a small shop near the entrance selling the museum’s published books of testimony, which are worth a look even if you don’t buy one — they extend the same one-sentence format the museum itself uses.
The museum is fully indoors, which makes it a sound choice on a wet afternoon or during the winter weeks when Sarajevo’s air quality drops and outdoor sightseeing is less appealing. It’s an easy add to a rainy-day itinerary alongside the National Museum or Vijećnica, both within walking distance.
Frequently asked questions about the War Childhood Museum
What is the War Childhood Museum, exactly?
It’s a museum in Sarajevo’s old town built from objects donated by people who were children during the 1992–1996 siege of Sarajevo, each displayed with a short first-person account by the donor. It opened in January 2017 and won the Council of Europe Museum Prize in 2018.
How is it different from the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina?
The Historical Museum covers the chronology and mechanics of the siege — front lines, daily survival, the mechanics of a city under fire. The War Childhood Museum covers none of that directly; it’s about individual, first-person experience through personal objects, not military or historical explanation.
Is it the same as Gallery 11/07/95?
No. Gallery 11/07/95 is specifically about the July 1995 genocide at Srebrenica. The War Childhood Museum is about the experience of childhood during the siege of Sarajevo, and it does not focus on Srebrenica.
How much does it cost and how long should I plan for?
Entry is around 10 KM (about 5 EUR). Most visitors spend 60 to 90 minutes inside — it’s a compact museum, not a large one, and the object-by-object format sets a natural pace rather than requiring a longer visit.
Where exactly is it, and is it walkable from Baščaršija?
It’s on Logavina street in the old town, about a 10-minute walk (roughly 700 m) from the Sebilj fountain at the centre of Baščaršija. Most visitors reach it on foot as part of a wider old-town walk rather than by tram or taxi.
Is it suitable for children?
Generally yes — much of the collection consists of objects kept by children themselves — though some sections, particularly the video testimony, are more affecting than others. It’s worth glancing at the layout on arrival to judge how you want to move through it with younger visitors.
Should I visit before or after a siege tour?
Either order works. Some visitors prefer the museum first, for personal context before the geography and mechanics of a guided siege tour; others prefer the tour first, so the framework is in place before the individual stories. Neither museum nor tour depends on having done the other.
Is photography allowed?
Policy varies and is best confirmed at the entrance desk rather than assumed. Regardless of the rule, this isn’t a museum where visitors are expected to photograph exhibits for their own sake — the format asks for attention to the text and object, not a quick picture and a move to the next case.
