Built in 1896, when Bosnia-Herzegovina was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the National Library in Sarajevo, was designed in Moorish Revival style by Czech architect Karel Pařík, father of Sarajevan architecture. Initially City Hall or Vijećnica, it became the National Library in 1949.

By Alen Djuderija Photography from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Sarajevo City Hall Vijecnica, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47109877

Artillery shelling during the Siege of Sarajevo in 1992 as part of the Yugoslav Civil War, destroyed the building and nearly all the books. Sarajevans died under sniper fire trying to save ancient manuscripts.

The European Union financed a splendid restauration of the building. It reopened in 2014 and is now also the City Hall of Sarajevo.

By Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie from London, UK – Vijecnica, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74582558

By Abdullah kıyga, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=57873524

By Julian Nyča – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42435129

By MorenaClara – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=142090845

By Josep Renalias – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7666947

By Internet Archive Book Images – Image from page 89 of “Durch Bosnien und die Herzegovina kreuz und quer; Wanderungen” (1897), No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35294100

By Mikhail Evstafiev – Mikhail Evstafiev, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curi