Olympic Museum Sarajevo

Official Interactive Multimedia - Audio Guide

The ceremonial opening of the Olympic Museum Sarajevo was held on 8 February 1984, on the same day when the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympic Games were opened.

The Museum was founded by the 14th Winter Olympics Organising Committee aiming at permanently preserving the memory of the organising and holding the Olympic Games.

The concept and programmes of the Museum were modeled after the International Olympic Museum in Lausanne, in an attempt to combine and affirm two basic principles, sports and art. From 1984 to 1992, the Museum prepared over 300 programmes on sports and art, affirming the universal values of the Olympic spirit and art.

The original building of the Olympic Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina located in Petrakijina Street in Sarajevo was designed by Karl Paržik in 1903 and commissioned by Nikola Mandić - a prominent Sarajevo lawyer. Throughout history, the building used to house the US Embassy for a while, as well as the League of Communists' City Committee.

The Museum building was built in the late Historicist style resembling mansions and palaces of the aristocracy.

In April 1992, at the beginning of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Olympic Museum was shelled and destroyed, but thanks to the efforts of the employees and the local community, many exhibits were saved and evacuated to safe place.