Gallery 11/07/95: Sarajevo's Srebrenica photography museum

What Gallery 11/07/95 actually is

Gallery 11/07/95 is a photography exhibition about the Srebrenica genocide of July 1995, housed in central Sarajevo rather than at Srebrenica itself. The name comes from the date the town fell: 11 July 1995. The gallery opened in 2012 and has moved premises since, but it has stayed in the city centre, within a short walk of the Sacred Heart Cathedral.

It should not be confused with the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial, the cemetery and documentation centre near the town of Srebrenica where more than 8,000 men and boys killed in July 1995 are buried and named. That memorial is about 140 km from Sarajevo, a drive of 2.5 to 3 hours each way. Gallery 11/07/95 is what a visitor can see without making that trip: a curated set of photographs, captions and video testimony, viewable in under an hour in the middle of the city.

This distinction matters for planning. Some visitors arrive in Sarajevo assuming a museum in town will cover what the memorial covers. It does not, and it is not meant to. The gallery documents and explains; the memorial is where the dead are buried and named. Treat one as a preparation or complement to the other, not as an alternative that removes the need for it if your schedule allows the day trip to Srebrenica.

Where it is and how to reach it

The gallery sits in central Sarajevo, in the area between Baščaršija and the newer part of the centre, close enough to the Sacred Heart Cathedral to combine with a short city walk. It is reachable on foot from most central accommodation in 10 to 20 minutes, or by tram along the main lines that run the length of the Miljacka valley.

Because the gallery has changed address more than once, do not rely on an old street name printed in a guidebook or blog post. Check the current location on the gallery’s own listing or through your accommodation before setting out, and treat the numbers below as a starting point rather than a fixed schedule.

Detail	What to expect
Location	Central Sarajevo, near Sacred Heart Cathedral
Visit duration	45 minutes to 1 hour
Entry price	Check on site — has changed with the venue
Language	Local language and English
Photography	Ask at the desk before photographing exhibits
Combine with	Cathedral, Baščaršija, National Museum

What’s inside

The exhibition is built around documentary photography, most of it taken during and after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, alongside identification and forensic material relating to the search for the missing. Captions give names, dates and locations rather than general narrative, which is consistent with how the gallery presents itself: as documentation, not interpretation.

A video testimony area plays recorded accounts from survivors and relatives of the dead. Most visitors spend the bulk of their time here rather than moving quickly through the photographs, which is part of why 45 minutes is closer to the typical visit than a rushed 15-minute pass-through.

The rooms are small compared with the National Museum or the Historical Museum, and the gallery does not attempt to cover the wider siege of Sarajevo or the broader Bosnian war — its subject is specifically Srebrenica. For a fuller picture of the war years in the city itself, the Museum of the Enfance en Guerre — the War Childhood Museum — and the Historical Museum cover the siege in more depth; this gallery is narrower and more specific by design.

Gallery 11/07/95 compared with the Potočari memorial

Visitors sometimes ask whether seeing the gallery removes the need to go to Potočari, or the reverse. Neither is quite right — they serve different functions.

	Gallery 11/07/95, Sarajevo	Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial
Location	Central Sarajevo	Near Srebrenica, ~140 km / 2.5–3 h from Sarajevo
What it is	Photography and testimony exhibition	Cemetery, memorial wall with names, documentation centre
Visit length	45 minutes to 1 hour	Half a day including travel
What you see	Curated images and recorded testimony	Graves, the memorial itself, the former UN compound
Best for	Visitors without time for the day trip; preparation before it	Visitors with a full day free for the journey east

If your schedule includes the drive east, the memorial is the primary site and the gallery works well as preparation beforehand, giving context to what you will see at Potočari. If it does not, the gallery is a genuine option in its own right rather than a lesser one — it simply covers different ground, in a different amount of time, in a different place.

Visiting respectfully

The subject matter here calls for the same register as any page on this site that deals with the siege or the genocide: sober, factual, without added emotion. A few practical points follow from that.

Ask before photographing inside the exhibition rooms; some sections restrict it. Keep conversation quiet, as you would in any space with recorded testimony playing. There is no dress code beyond ordinary good manners, and no religious etiquette involved, unlike at the Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque or the city’s churches — this is a civic and documentary space rather than a place of worship.

If you plan to also see the Historical Museum’s siege exhibits, the Tunnel of Hope, or the War Childhood Museum on the same trip, spacing these visits across more than one day tends to work better than stacking them back to back. The material is dense in a way that rewards a break in between, not a checklist approach.

Combining the visit with the rest of the city centre

Gallery 11/07/95’s location makes it easy to fold into an ordinary day of sightseeing rather than treating it as a separate excursion. The Sacred Heart Cathedral is a short walk away, and from there it is a further short walk to the Old Orthodox Church and the Sarajevo Synagogue — the cluster of four faiths that the city is often described by. Baščaršija and the Sebilj fountain are close enough to continue on foot afterwards.

For a first visit to Sarajevo, this area sits comfortably inside a standard one-day or two-day itinerary alongside the old town and the main religious buildings. Visitors building a itinerary specifically around the siege and the 1990s war more broadly should read the siege tour guide and the overview of Sarajevo’s war museums compared before deciding which combination of sites — this gallery, the Historical Museum, the Tunnel of Hope, the War Childhood Museum — fits the time available.

Guided tours that add context

A handful of guided walking and half-day tours in Sarajevo cover the siege years with a local guide, which some visitors prefer to piecing the history together from museum captions alone. None of the tours below is built specifically around Gallery 11/07/95 — it is a self-guided visit — but they cover adjoining ground and can be booked either side of it.

The Total Siege Tour walks through the main sites connected to the 1992–1996 siege of Sarajevo with a guide, which pairs naturally with the documentary material inside the gallery. For a shorter option, the half-day Times of Misfortune tour covers similar ground in less time.

Visitors who want the Tunnel of Hope included alongside the wider siege narrative can look at the guided tunnel and siege-story tour, or the more general siege tour focused on understanding the war for a guide-led explanation of how the siege unfolded street by street. None of these substitute for the specific Srebrenica material at Gallery 11/07/95, which is worth visiting on its own regardless of whether you also book a guided tour.

Practical notes before you go

Opening hours have been inconsistent across the gallery’s different addresses over the years, so check the current hours rather than assuming standard museum times. Entry is normally by cash, in line with most small museums in the city — see money and currency in Bosnia if you need the wider picture on cards versus cash.

The gallery is small enough that it does not need a booked time slot for most of the year, though this can change around 11 July, the anniversary of the fall of Srebrenica, when visitor numbers in Sarajevo’s history-related sites tend to rise. If you are travelling around that date, arriving earlier in the day is the more reliable approach.

Combine the visit with a read of visiting Sarajevo respectfully beforehand if this is your first time engaging with the city’s 1990s history — it sets out the general register that applies here and at the other sites connected to the siege and the genocide, and explains why terms like “dark tourism” have no place in how these sites are discussed or visited.

Gallery 11/07/95: frequently asked questions

Is Gallery 11/07/95 the same as the Srebrenica memorial?

No. Gallery 11/07/95 is a photography exhibition in central Sarajevo. The Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and Cemetery, with the graves and the names of the dead, is near Srebrenica itself, about 140 km and 2.5 to 3 hours from Sarajevo.

How long does a visit to Gallery 11/07/95 take?

Around 45 minutes to an hour for most visitors. The space is a single set of rooms with photographs, captions and a video testimony area, not a large museum.

What does the entry ticket cost?

The gallery has changed address and pricing structure more than once since it opened in 2012. Treat any figure online as approximate and check the price at the door or on the gallery’s own page before visiting.

Where exactly is Gallery 11/07/95?

In central Sarajevo, within walking distance of the Sacred Heart Cathedral and Baščaršija. It sits inside the everyday city centre, not in a dedicated memorial complex.

Can I visit Gallery 11/07/95 if I’m not going to Srebrenica?

Yes, and that is largely the point of it being in Sarajevo. It gives visitors who will not make the 140 km trip east a way to see documentary photography and testimony about what happened, without standing in for a visit to the memorial and graves at Potočari.

Is the exhibition suitable for children?

The photographs and captions deal directly with mass killing and its aftermath. Most visitors bring older teenagers rather than young children; use the same judgement you would for any museum covering the siege.

What language is the exhibition in?

Captions and the video testimony are presented with English alongside the local language, aimed at an international visiting public as much as a local one.

Should I visit Gallery 11/07/95 instead of the Potočari memorial?

Treat it as a complement, not a substitute. The gallery explains and documents; Potočari is where the burials and the names are. If your itinerary allows the day trip, the memorial is the primary site.