Vijećnica (Sarajevo City Hall)

The Vijećnica is Sarajevo's former City Hall, an ornate pseudo-Moorish landmark on Obala Kulina bana on the Miljacka river in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Built between 1892 and 1896 under Austro-Hungarian rule, with designs begun by Karel Pařík and completed by Alexander Wittek and Ćiril Iveković, it combines red and cream striped masonry, horseshoe arches, a decorated facade and a stained-glass central hall. From 1949 it housed the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 25 August 1992 during the siege of Sarajevo the building was hit by incendiary shells and about two million volumes and manuscripts were destroyed, a loss still commemorated each year. After a long reconstruction it reopened in 2014. Visitors today enter a lavish atrium with a skylit stained-glass ceiling, a grand staircase, painted arcades and the former reading room, and the building hosts exhibitions, concerts and city events, plus a small display on its history and the 1992 fire. The ground-floor café sits in the central hall under the glass dome. A visit takes about 45 to 60 minutes, and the interior can close at short notice for events, so posted hours at the door apply. The best photographs are of the facade from across the river on the Obala embankment or from the Latin Bridge side, and of the central hall from the stair landing looking up into the glass ceiling. Mid-morning on weekdays is usually calm, while summer weekends and the afternoon are busiest with tour groups. The building stands on the tram line 3 route and a five-minute walk east of Baščaršija, and the exterior can be admired for free at any time even if the interior is closed.