Plans are underway to prepare for the dedication in Sarajevo

Plans are underway to prepare for the dedication in Sarajevo, the capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina. During the dedication of the 2010 International Peace Garden last spring, Mayor Kadir Topbas of Istanbul, Turkey announced the nomination.



The siege of Sarajevo in 1992 through 1996 was a brutal reminder that decades of calm and relative prosperity does not dull the human tribal instant to destroy. For Sarajevo, the encirclement by Bosnian-Serb forces meant large-scale deprivation, hunger and death. This was the longest siege In modern history and one of the main theatres of the wider Bosnian War. An estimated 12,000 Sarajevans were killed and 50,000 more were wounded during the siege, nearly all of them civilians. At the end of 1993, virtually all buildings in the city had been hit, and 35,000 were completely destroyed.

Today, the city is recovering and adjusting to post-war reality, as a major center of culture and economic development in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lonely Planet has named Sarajevo as the 43rd best city in the world and in December 2009 listed Sarajevo as one of the top ten cities to visit in 2010. Due to a long and rich history of religious diversity and coexistence Sarajevo has often been called the “Jerusalem of Europe”.

Sarajevo is a twin city to Liubljana, Slovenia, the 2006 recipient of an International Peace Garden.