Tunnel of Hope (Tunnel Museum)

The Tunnel of Hope (Tunnel Museum) at Tuneli 1 in Donji Kotorac, near Sarajevo airport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, preserves part of the secret tunnel dug in 1993 beneath the airport runway during the siege of Sarajevo. The roughly 800-metre tunnel linked the besieged city with Bosnian-held territory at Butmir, and it was the only route for food, medicine, weapons and people during the siege that lasted almost four years. The museum is set in the Kolar family house, whose garden and cellar formed the tunnel's southern entrance and which still shows damage from shelling. Visitors first watch a short film about the siege, then see exhibits of uniforms, tools, photographs and equipment used to haul supplies, including a model of the tunnel's routing. They then walk through a reconstructed section of about 25 metres of the original shaft, narrow and low enough that most adults must stoop, with rails and wooden supports as originally built. Most of the tunnel is not accessible. A visit takes one to one and a half hours, and an audio guide is available for a small extra fee. Quieter mornings on weekdays are best, as tour buses from the city arrive from late morning and can fill the short tunnel section. The best vantage points for photographs are the house's pockmarked facade and the garden entrance to the tunnel. The site is about 6 km from the centre, reached by taxi or ride-hailing in around 15 to 20 minutes, or by tram to Ilidža and then a taxi or walk, and many half-day siege tours include it. Visitors should note that the site deals with civilian suffering and death and is a place of memory as much as a museum.