National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Sarajevo Haggadah

The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Zemaljski muzej) at Zmaja od Bosne 3 in the Marijin Dvor district of Sarajevo is the country's oldest cultural institution, founded in 1888 under Austro-Hungarian rule. The present complex was built from 1912 to 1913 to a design by Karel Pařík: four pavilions arranged around a central botanical garden, housing archaeology, ethnology, natural history and the museum library. Its prehistoric and ancient collections include material from the Butmir Neolithic culture, Roman finds and a notable group of medieval stećci, the carved limestone tombstones found across Bosnia. The ethnographic collection documents traditional Bosnian clothing, tools and living spaces. The museum is best known for the Sarajevo Haggadah, an illuminated Jewish manuscript produced in Spain, probably around Barcelona, in about 1350 and carried into exile after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492. The museum acquired it in 1894 from the Sarajevo family that had brought it. During the Second World War the museum's head, Derviš Korkut, is said to have hidden it from German forces, and during the 1992-1995 siege it was protected in a secure vault. UNESCO added it to the Memory of the World Register in 2017. The Haggadah is displayed in a dedicated climate-controlled gallery, but is shown only when that gallery is open, so visitors should confirm in advance. The museum faced a funding crisis and was closed from 2012 to 2015 before reopening. The approach is thematic by department, with the botanical garden between the pavilions offering a quiet space. A visit usually takes two to three hours. Admission is about 20 KM for adults, with reduced prices for students and children.