Sarajevo slowly rebuilds a piece of history

se times

10/01/2011
A symbol of Sarajevo is midway through a four-phase rebuilding necessitated by a devastating fire.
By Jusuf Ramadanovic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo – 10/01/11

City Hall in Sarajevo is a national monument dating back to 1896, the time of Austro-Hungarian rule. It is the biggest and most representative building from this period in Sarajevo, situated in the Old Town, on the right bank of the Miljacka River.
The building survived two world wars, only to be decimated by a huge fire in August 1992, early in the Bosnian conflict. Before the fire, the building served as home to the main National Library. Shells fired from Serb positions that August decimated it and destroyed a significant number of precious books and archive materials.
The daunting reconstruction effort has been split into four phases. The first two focused on stabilising the structure, particularly the load-bearing walls. They have been completed, at a cost of 3m euros.
The main financiers have included city authorities, a number of European governments and capitals, the National Libraries of Serbia, France, Austria, The Netherlands, Cyprus and Norway, and the embassies of Croatia, the United States and Britain.
The third phase envisions a donation of 7.5m euros from the European Commission for renovation of the interior, and 1m euros have been pledged by Spain for the building's facade. ...more...

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