Olympic Museum / Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina AW26

The Sarajevo Olympic Museum represents one of Sarajevo’s cultural treasures, bearing witness to the stormy events that marked its past. It was founded by the decision of the Organizing Committee of the XIV Winter Olympic Games in '84, in the hope of permanently preserving the memory of the organization and realization of an unforgettable Olympic event. The museum is housed in an impressive building from 1903, whose architecture followed the model of luxurious European villas of that period.

The official opening of the Olympic Museum, in the presence of numerous guests and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, took place on February 8, 1984, on the day of the opening of the XIV Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo. At the beginning of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina on April 27, 1992, the building of the Olympic Museum was shelled, and in the fire that broke out at that time, the building was destroyed, as well as some valuable exhibits. Thanks to the courage of the Museum’s employees and the support of citizens, most of the exhibits were saved even in difficult wartime conditions.

After the end of the war, the exhibits were temporarily displayed in the Zetra Olympic Hall, where they were kept until the reopening of the Olympic Museum in Sarajevo. In the presence of Prince Albert II of Monaco, and representatives of the International Olympic Committee, the museum was officially opened on 8 October 2020. The exhibits on display include the XIV Winter Olympic Games '84 and the European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) 2019, representing an important part of Sarajevo’s sporting and cultural heritage.