Bosnian Cultural Center

The BKC is located in what used to be the Great Sephardic Temple, Sarajevo’s largest synagogue, which could accommodate about 2, 000 worshippers.

Construction on the temple lasted from 1926 to 1930. It was built in the Pseudo-Moorish style according to designs by Rudolf Lubinski, with a distinctive elliptical copper cupola, and was the third largest in Europe at that time.

The temple and adjacent buildings were demolished during WWII when Sarajevo was occupied. In 1948 the war-ravaged Jewish municipality of Sarajevo bequeathed the temple to the City of Sarajevo and it would later come to house the Đuro Đaković Workers’ University.

The building was renovated and rebuilt in 1964 according to designs by Ivan Štraus and a monument in the shape of a stone menorah was placed in the portico. Designed by Štraus’ colleague, Zlatka Ugljena, the statue was meant to serve as a testament to the many hundreds of years that Jews had lived in Sarajevo.

Since 1993, this historical building has been home to the Bosnian Cultural Center, whose primary objective is to encourage the development of Sarajevo’s cultural life.

The Department for Cultural Activities, the Department for Educational Activities and the Department for publishing-printing activities all work as part of the BKC.

The BKC’s large auditorium can seat around 800 and it’s been hailed as being one of the most ideal spots in Sarajevo for its acoustics. Concerts, performances, film screenings, congresses, conferences, lectures… all take place here on a regular basis.

Starting in April 2015, the BKC joined with Sarajevo Art and Collegium Artisticum to form the Sarajevo Canton Center for Culture.