Sarajevo Grbavica

View of Grbavica, a neighbourhood of Sarajevo, approximately 4 months after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord that officially ended the war in Bosnia.

This particular scene shows the part of the neighbourhood located by the left bank of Miljacka river near Vrbanja bridge at the point where Zagrebačka Street and Beogradska Street (later renamed Emerika Bluma Street) meet.

Throughout the war (1992-1995), Grbavica was held by the forces of Bosnian Serbs. In relation to the part of Grbavica shown in the photo, Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) lines were right across on the Miljacka river's right bank. Due to its location in the crossfire between two sides, this part of Grbavica was exposed to constant fire and as a result suffered heavy structural damage. It was basically uninhabitable throughout the war - most of the apartments in the buildings seen in the photo were empty during the war as their occupants fled early on fearing for their safety.

These ruins of the apartments and houses were among the last group to be turned over by the Bosnian Serbs to the Bosniaks (a.k.a. Bosnian Muslims) as required by the Dayton Peace Accord, which produced a lasting cease fire and permanent internal borders between two entities - Republika Srpska (Serb entity) and Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (Muslim-Croat entity).