Sarajevo National Library Reconstructed 22 Years After Destruction

Sarajevo reopened Friday its reconstructed National Library (Vijećnica) building 22 years after the city landmark was destroyed by the Serbs during the siege of Sarajevo along with its almost 2 million books and manuscripts.

The inscription on the wall of the restored building reads: “On this place Serbian criminals … set on fire national and university’s library of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” it reads. “Do not forget. Remember and warn!”

The reopening comes in time for the June ceremonies marking the centenary of the assassination that ignited World War I.

More than 10,000 residents died during the city’s three-and-a-half year siege (1992-1995) in which Bosnian Serbs took control of the hills surrounding Sarajevo, bombarding it with shells and killing civilians with snipers as they sought food and water.

“Tonight … we mark the triumph of civilization over barbarism, of light over darkness, of life over death and the triumph of the idea of unity and co-existence over the idea of inhuman and unnatural divisions and clashes,” said Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak member of Bosnia’s three-man inter-ethnic presidency.

The Vijecnica was struck on Aug 25, 1992, starting a fire that reduced the building to rubble. Most of the two million books inside it were also destroyed.

City authorities plan to have the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra perform inside the building on June 28, marking 100 years since Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand von Habsburg walked out of the building and was shot dead by a Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip.

It took architects and builders 18 years to find documents and photos on the building’s 19th-century construction and put it back together the way it was before Serb shelling destroyed the landmark in 1992.

The building had no military significance and the library ruin turned into a symbol of what Sarajevans called “urbicide” — a term they used to describe primitive attackers destroying cultural achievements.

The re-painting of 2,000 square meters (21,530 square feet) of arabesques on walls and ceilings took a year.

The reconstruction represents a victory “of life over death” and a proper answer “to those who thought they could burn libraries, kill people and destroy cities,” Bosnian President Bakir Izetbegovic said.

The library served first as the city hall when it was originally built 118 years ago by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in pseudo-Moorish style to reflect the multicultural character of a city in which the East and the West coexist.

The European Union contributed more than half of the reconstruction cost of more than 16 million euros ($22.05 million).

“This is about restoring the densely woven intellectual tapestry of our continent — a tapestry of diverse cultures and beliefs and peoples,” said Bosnia’s international administrator, Austrian diplomat Valentin Inzko.

Its notoriety was cemented when it was badly damaged during the Serbian siege of Sarajevo following the collapse of the Berlin Wall. 

A 1992 picture of Vedran Smajlovic – the so-called cellist of Sarajevo – playing his instrument amid the blackened ruins in tie and tail became a symbol of the tragedy of conflict.

The distinctive Vijecnica was the last site visited by Archduke Franz Ferdinand moments before his assassination almost a century ago – an event that triggered the outbreak of World War One.

“Vijecnica was wounded but its spirit never went away,” Smajlovic told NBC News on Thursday as he prepared for the public performance.“This is long overdue but I am very happy that our city symbol is back.”

David Barth, USAID’s mission director for Bosnia-Herzegovina, declined to put a figure on his organization’s contribution, describing it as “mostly logistical.”

However, he explained that the U.S. was keen to assist Bosnia’s slow recovery from the dark decade of the 1990s.

“Sarajevo has enormous potential for tourism that could bring economic benefits and Vijecnica is one of the important sights,” he told NBC News.

“It is in our strategic interest that this country should have a better economy, more stability and far better governance.”

Progress on Vijecnica was slowed by painstaking efforts to recreate the original design – including the year-long repainting of 21,500 square feet of artwork on the walls and ceilings – and by local politics.

Some Bosniaks are unhappy at the amount of space in the “new” building allocated to the corruption-plagued city government and its politicians instead of books.

The building’s return to glory is part of a year long program of exhibitions, conferences and concerts in Sarajevo marking the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One. On June 28, the date of Ferdinand’s assassination, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will perform in Vijecnica.

“Vijecnica is a symbol of Sarajevo … because the history of Vijecnica is the history of Sarajevo,” said Mayor Ivo Komsic.

“I am so glad it will be opened again,” said an elderly woman named Minka. “Especially because they rushed to destroy it but now they see it was in vain,” she added, referring to the Serbs who had shelled the besieged city.

Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in Vienna, attended a reception at Vijecnica on June 28, 1914 after surviving an failed assassination attempt. Just after leaving, he and his wife were shot dead in their open car by Serb assassin Gavrilo Princip.

His killing lit the fuse for the First World War, in which more than 10 million soldiers died and the map of Europe was redrawn, ending Vienna’s empire and creating the new state of Yugoslavia.

3D mapping projections of Bosnian writers, among other, were seen on the facade of the National Library during opening ceremony in Sarajevo May 9, 2014. (See more 3D photos showing National Library throughout history – from Austro-Hungary to World War I to Nazi-occupation to Olympic Games etc...)

Residents of Sarajevo watch 3D projection during historic re-opening of the National Library (Vijecnica).

A few hundred Bosniak people protest in front of a police cordon during a protest in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo on Friday, May 9, 2014 over the high unemployment rate in the country and alleged government corruption. Protesters walked to the Sarajevo Library – a landmark destroyed during the Bosnian war – which officially reopened today after reconstruction that has taken 18 years at the cost of over 16 million euros. They said they will continue the protest during the official ceremony to reopen the 19th century pseudo-Moorish construction that is expected to be attended by all top government officials as well as numerous international dignitaries. (Photo/Amel Emric)

Also see photos of Sarajevo Vijecnica from about a month before re-opening: