War Childhood Museum to open in December, with over 3,000 exhibits in its collection

By signing the lease agreement for business premises in the Logavina Community Center, between the Municipality of Stari Grad and the "Urban" Association, the conditions for opening the War Childhood Museum have been met. The space will be adapted for museum purposes in the coming period, including an exhibition area, a documentation and research center, offices, and the entire space will be multifunctional, adapted for holding educational content, such as workshops for children and more, it was announced from the Municipality of Stari Grad, reports Patria.

The lease agreement for business premises was signed today by the Mayor of the Municipality of Stari Grad, Ibrahim Hadžibajrić, and the President of the "Urban" Association, Jasminko Halilović. Mayor Hadžibajrić expressed satisfaction that the War Childhood Museum will be located precisely in the Municipality of Stari Grad, where most of Sarajevo's museums are located.

- In our municipality, we already have the Gallery 11/07/95, dedicated to the genocide in Srebrenica, as well as a museum dedicated to prisoners of war and civilians during the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and numerous annexes belonging to the Museum of the City of Sarajevo. With this museum, we have completed the recent history from the period of 92-95 - Hadžibajrić said.

He added that he thanks the Municipal Council, which accepted this proposal and allocated the space in Logavina to the "Urban" Association, as its size was the only one suitable for the purpose.

- This will significantly improve the tourist offer of our municipality, especially the part of Logavina Street, which is a bit further from the tourist core of Stari Grad, and I believe that with good signage, the museum will be well-attended - Hadžibajrić said. Regarding the exhibition, he said that it evokes emotions and takes you back to the period of 20 or more years ago, and that it is good for younger generations to learn about the past and the way children at that time survived the war.

The War Childhood Museum is a globally unique institution, as it is the only one in the world that exclusively deals with the childhood and experiences of children during wartime. It is significant for all citizens of Sarajevo who have already shown their support for this project, and especially for the people who have donated items to the museum. As Jasminko Halilović, president of the "Urban" Association, stated, they already have over 3,000 museum exhibits ready.

- So far, we have had exhibitions in Sarajevo, Visoko, and Zenica, and now we are getting our permanent home in the Municipality of Stari Grad. Our collection today numbers over 3,000 museum exhibits, connected stories, and documents from people who were children during the war. The exhibition of items in Sarajevo will be permanently in our museum, and this will be of great importance to the people who donated these items - Halilović said.

He added that international cooperation has already been established, and that next month they will be guests at the University of Toronto in Canada, and at Columbia University in New York.

- I thank Mayor Hadžibajrić and all councilors, who overwhelmingly voted positively on this decision. I promise on behalf of the War Childhood Museum and the "Urban" Association that Stari Grad will get a special museum, because there is no museum of this kind anywhere in the world - Halilović said.

The Municipal Council of Stari Grad, at its 42nd session, adopted the Proposal of the Decision on leasing business premises at Logavina Street no. 32 to the "Urban" Association, for the purpose of realizing the project of establishing the War Childhood Museum. It was previously determined that the establishment of the "War Childhood Museum" Project is of strategic interest to the Municipality of Stari Grad Sarajevo.