War Childhood Museum

Diaries, toys, photographs and items of clothing donated by people who were children during the war in Bosnia form the core of the War Childhood Museum (Muzej ratnog djetinjstva). Each object is displayed alongside a first-person recollection from the person who gave it, so every item is tied to an individual memory.

Visitors can also listen to testimonies and read excerpts from oral history interviews. The collection holds more than 3,000 objects and over 60 oral history testimonies. In 2018 the museum received the Council of Europe Museum Prize, awarded as part of the European Museum of the Year Award.

The project began in 2010, when Sarajevan entrepreneur and activist Jasminko Halilovic, himself a war child, used an online platform to gather short recollections from young adults who had grown up during the Bosnian war. More than 1,000 responded, and their memories became a book in 2013. After temporary exhibitions in Sarajevo, Zenica and Visoko, the permanent exhibition opened on Logavina Street in January 2017.