Things to do at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Founded in 1888 under Austro-Hungarian rule, the National Museum groups archaeology, ethnography and natural history around an interior botanical garden, a rare layout for a Balkan city museum.

Its best-known object, the Sarajevo Haggadah, a fourteenth-century illuminated Sephardic manuscript, is kept on display only during limited hours, sometimes just a few days a week, so check the current schedule before making a special trip to see it rather than assuming it will be out.

The museum has closed its doors more than once in the past decade over funding shortfalls, so treat opening hours as worth confirming on the day rather than fixed. The archaeological wing, with its collection of medieval stecci tombstones and Roman-period finds, is worth the visit even if the Haggadah room is shut.