Sarajevo City Hall

Sarajevo's national library and city hall, the Vijecnica, reopens on July 17 to all visitors after a restoration process that has lasted more than two decades brought it back to its long-lost splendour.

Sarajevo City Hall is the most beautiful Austro-Hungarian-era building. It is located in the city of Sarajevo. It was designed in 1891 by the Czech architect Karel Parik, but criticisms by the minister, Baron Benjamin Kallay, caused him to stop working on the project. It was initially the largest and most representative building of the Austro-Hungarian period in Sarajevo and served as the city hall. The building was reopened on the May 9, 2014.

The building has had an eventful history. Franz Ferdinand was on his way back from here when shot by Princip in 1914. From 1949 the building became the National Library but in August 1992 it was deliberately hit by a Serb incendiary shell. Around 90% of its irreplaceable collection of manuscripts and Bosnian books was destroyed. Sarajevo City Hall is a symbol of Sarajevo.