Museum of Sarajevo

The Mlada Bosna Museum opened as the museum’s first annex in 1953. It was housed in the former Šilerova workshop, and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, was carried out in front of this building. Today, it is home to the Museum of Sarajevo 1878-1918 (Zelenih Beretki 1), which has broadened its scope to look at the assassination, as well as the city up to the end of Austro-Hungarian rule.

As a testimony to the 500-year Jewish presence in the region, the museum opened its second annex in 1966. The Jewish Museum of BiH (Velika Avlija bb) is housed in the Old or Great Temple (Il Kal Grandi), BiH’s oldest synagogue, from the late 16th century. The museum collection tells the story of the lives of Sarajevo’s Jews, their contribution to the city’s development and the loss of life during WWII.

In the 1960s, the museum family acquired two more annexes - Svrzo House and Despić House.

Svrzo House (Glođina 8) is one of the best preserved examples of residential architecture in BiH from the Ottoman period (18th c.), a time when wealthy homes were divided into a public area (selamluk) and a family section (haremluk). It first belonged to the prominent Glođo family, and was then passed on to the Svrzo family through marriage, and the latter sold it to the Museum of the City of Sarajevo.

The first theater productions in Sarajevo were put on at Despić House (Despićeva 2). The oldest part of this home was built in the 17 century and it was bequeathed to the city by Pero Despić, so as to create an exhibit that shows the way of life of an old Sarajevo Serb family and preserve the memory of the Despić family.