The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo was designed by the Czech architect Karel Pařík. Built from 1908 to 1913 under Austro-Hungarian rule, it opened on October 4, 1913. Four symmetric pavilions in Italian Renaissance Revival style enclose a courtyard with a botanical garden and relocated stećak tombstones. The pavilions house the archaeology, ethnology, natural history and library departments.
Its best-known object is the Sarajevo Haggadah, kept in a high-security glass case.
During the war of 1992 to 1995, shells hit the roof and about 300 windows broke. Director Rizo Sijarić was killed by a grenade on December 10, 1993, and the museum never closed entirely. It closed on October 4, 2012, after funding problems, and reopened in September 2015.
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