Jewish Sarajevo

We organize tours of “Jewish Sarajevo”, “Religious Sarajevo” tour where you can discover the different religions that live We organize tours of “Jewish Sarajevo”, “Religious Sarajevo” tour where you can discover the different religions that live here. We also educate tourist guides to be able to lead the Jewish Sarajevo tour and give accurate information about the long history of Jewish life in B&

H. Sarajevo is also called The European Jerusalem because we have 4 religions living side by side for centuries. Muslims, Catholics, Orthodox and Jews all live together. The religious objects of all four religions are in the center of Sarajevo in a radius of 200 meters. In Sarajevo is also the meeting point of East and West cultures. We are located in the Bosnian Cultural center, which is a former largest Sephardic synagogue in B&H. Sephardic Jews live in Sarajevo for nearly 500 years and brought with them from Spain and Portugal their language, songs, cuisine and culture. Part of it has become an inseparable part of the culture of Sarajevo, for example the song “When I went to Bentbasha” which originally is a Sephardic song. In Sarajevo is located the Old Jewish cemetery, which is second largest in Europe, the tombstones are very special and can only be found here. The cemetery is a national cultural monument and it was recently nominated to be under the protection of UNESCO. We have an old Sephardic synagogue that was built in 1581, today it is the Jewish museum in which you can see the long history of Jewish life In B&H. Of course we cannot forget the Ashkenazy part of Jews in Sarajevo, they came later with the Austro-Hungarian Empire but had a big impact on cultural, industrial and economic development of the city. Today there is an Ashkenazy synagogue that was built in 1902, the only active synagogue in Sarajevo and a Jewish community center. Another famous thing about Jewish Sarajevo is the manuscript “The Sarajevo Haggadah” which is originally from Spain from the 14th century, it made its journey together with Jewish people who fled Spain and Portugal during the inquisition. It is called The Sarajevo Haggadah because here is where it survived the 1st 2nd world war and the1992- 95 war. And it remains in Sarajevo today kept in the National Museum of B&H. The story of The Sarajevo Haggadah is not just a story of a manuscript of artistic and historical value, this is the story of the people, the citizens of Sarajevo who have fought for this valuable manuscript to remain in Sarajevo, to preserve and protect it. This is just a taste of what Sarajevo has to offer, so come and visit us. President and researcher dr. Eli Tauber