Muzej Jevreja Bosne i Hercegovine - Muzej Sarajevo

The Sarajevo Museum is a public institute founded by Sarajevo Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It now consists of the main building, with depots, and five dependencies: Svrzo’s House, the Despić House, the Jewish Museum, the Brusa Bezistan, and the Museum of Sarajevo 1878-1914.

The Jewish Museum or Museum of the Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina is housed in the oldest synagogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina, built in 1581. Many experts are of the opinion that this was the finest exhibition space in the whole of ex-Yugoslavia; and indeed, on entering the Synagogue, one steps into a different, sheltered world, which attests to the centuries-old presence of the Jews in this country and to the contribution they made to its development in many fields, particularly science and the arts. Particular attention is devoted to the suffering of the Jews during World War II. This dependency of the Sarajevo Museum is located in Velika avilja. The Museum’s collections are housed and displayed in its depots and dependencies, where they tell the story of Sarajevo’s past, from the prehistoric settlements at Butmir through the Illyrian and Roman settlements to mediaeval Bosnia, the Ottoman period, the Austro-Hungarian period and modern times. The Museum has several collections of considerable value, among them its archaeology, oriental and ethnography collections, works of art, the Jewish collection, the Austro-Hungarian collection and the Isztvan Meze collection. The Sarajevo Museum has made a major contribution to the city’s culture, education and tourism in the past, and this remains its mission for the future.