Three museums from Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the worldwide community of museums and other institutions that made the centenary of the beginning of WWI. The Historical Museum in Sarajevo, as BiH's participant of the First World War Centenary Partnership project led by Imperial War Museums, prepared an exhibition dedicated to the occasion. Curators and historians from Sarajevo worked together on common memories of WWI to present a shared history of the period throughout Europe. In addition, experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina developed an educational programme and digitized the content for a new and exciting way to engage audience and work with youth.
Conceived as a journey through the history of Europe and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period from 1914 to 1918, the exhibition allowed visitors to follow the development of events on the front lines and behind them. Bosnia and Herzegovina was not the scene of the war directly; however its population very much felt the War in all aspects of life.
Special highlights are the events around the assassination in Sarajevo in June, 1914. The visitors were able to see a large number of original artefacts from the period, photographs, newspaper articles, documents and weapons of World War I from the collection of weapons of the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the most interesting exhibits was a mortal bier of Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia.
Curatorial method embraced audience as co-creators of the exhibition. In order to bring the museums and public closer together, citizens have been invited to contribute to the exhibition by providing items from their own family treasures.
In order to engage audience even more, Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina presented an inspiring participation programme developed around the topic. With special attention placed on needs and likes of young people, they were able to experience the exhibition through accompanying interactive digital displays and educational workshops.
It was indeed an exciting journey through a shared history of the people of Europe, reinventing the practice of cultural institutions throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The exhibition was on display in Sarajevo, Zenica and Tuzla.