60 Fun Facts About Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina shares land borders with which three countries?

The Croatian border alone runs 932 km, wrapping around the north and west.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's coastline on the Adriatic is roughly how long?

It consists of the single town of Neum, which splits Croatia's Dubrovnik region from the rest of the country.

Which is the only town on Bosnia and Herzegovina's short Adriatic coast?

It sits 47 km from Dubrovnik and its strip of coast cuts Croatia's southernmost territory off from the rest of Croatia.

Whose assassination in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 sparked World War I?

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie were shot in their open car by a 19-year-old.

Why was Gavrilo Princip, the 1914 Sarajevo assassin, spared the death penalty?

He got 20 years and died of tuberculosis in prison in 1918, having lost an arm to the disease.

Which Ottoman-era bridge over the Miljacka stands beside the spot where Franz Ferdinand was shot?

It was renamed Princip's Bridge during the Yugoslav era.

Sarajevo hosted the Winter Olympics in which year?

It was the first Winter Games in a Slavic-speaking country and the only ones in a communist state until Beijing 2022.

Vučko, the mascot of the Sarajevo Olympics, was what kind of animal?

Host Yugoslavia won its first-ever Winter medal there when skier Jure Franko took giant slalom silver.

The 1992-96 encirclement of Sarajevo holds what grim record?

Its 1,425 days were three times longer than Stalingrad; nearly 14,000 people were killed.

During the siege, Sarajevans hand-dug an 800 m tunnel to the outside world. Under what did it run?

The "Tunnel of Hope" linked Dobrinja and Butmir and carried food, arms and people from March 1993.

"Sarajevo Roses" scattered around the city are what?

About 200 mark spots where at least three people were killed by a single shell during the siege.

The 1995 agreement that ended the Bosnian War was negotiated at an air force base in which US state?

Talks at Wright-Patterson near Dayton ran from 1-21 November; the deal was formally signed in Paris in December.

Under the Dayton Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina is split into the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and what?

The Federation covers 51% of the territory and Republika Srpska 49%; the Brčko District belongs to both and is run by neither.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's presidency consists of how many members?

The chair rotates among them every eight months during a four-year term.

Which internationally appointed official can impose laws and sack officials in Bosnia under the 'Bonn Powers'?

Created by the Dayton Agreement's Annex 10, the office is chosen by the Peace Implementation Council.

Which north-eastern town is a self-governing district belonging to both entities but run by neither?

It was created by international arbitration in 1999-2000 to reflect its mixed population.

Which city is the administrative centre and largest city of the Serb-majority entity?

On the Vrbas river, it is the country's second-largest city.

At which town were more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys killed in July 1995?

The UN had declared it a "safe area"; 370 lightly armed Dutch peacekeepers failed to stop the Bosnian Serb army.

Which Bosnian Serb general commanded the forces responsible for the July 1995 massacre?

Karadžić was the political leader; both were later convicted of genocide by the UN tribunal.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's flag has a yellow triangle. What do its points represent?

The stars along its edge represent Europe and are meant to be infinite, running off top and bottom.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's currency, the KM, was pegged at par to which currency when introduced in 1998?

It has been fixed to the euro at the old DM rate ever since, and is subdivided into 100 fenings.

Stari Most, the famous "Old Bridge" of Mostar, was destroyed in November 1993 by whom?

Commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557, it was rebuilt and reopened in 2004 and is now a World Heritage Site.

Mostar's Old Bridge crosses which river?

Local divers leap 24 m from its hump-backed span; the city is named after the bridge-keepers, mostari.

Which Bosnian-born author of The Bridge on the Drina won the 1961 Nobel Prize in Literature?

Born in Travnik, he wrote the novel while lying low in Belgrade during World War II.

Which Sarajevo-born director won the Palme d'Or twice, including for Underground?

He also won Best Director at Cannes for Time of the Gypsies.

Danis Tanović's 2001 film No Man's Land won Bosnia and Herzegovina its first what?

The dark comedy about two soldiers trapped in a trench also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Sarajevo Film Festival was founded in which unusual circumstances?

Its top prize is called the Heart of Sarajevo.

Ćevapi, the grilled minced-meat national dish, are traditionally served in what?

Bosnian ćevapi are made from two kinds of beef; chopped onion and kajmak cream go alongside.

Bosnian coffee is traditionally brewed and served in what long-handled pot?

It comes with rahat lokum and sugar cubes; the country ranks ninth in the world for coffee consumption per head.

Sarajevo's old bazaar, founded in the 15th century, is called what?

Legend says anyone who drinks from its wooden Sebilj fountain will return to Sarajevo one day.

Bosnia's highest peak, Maglić, at 2,386 m, lies on the border with which country?

It sits in Sutjeska National Park, home to the Perućica primeval forest.

Perućica, in Sutjeska National Park, is one of the last two remaining what in Europe?

Some trees are 300 years old and the Skakavac waterfall drops 75 m into the valley.

Which medieval tombstones, some 70,000 across the country, were added to the World Heritage List in 2016?

Twenty of the 28 listed necropolises are in Bosnia; the best-preserved is Radimlja near Stolac.

Who was crowned the first King of Bosnia in 1377?

A Kotromanić, he also claimed the crown of Serbia; the kingdom fell to the Ottomans in 1463.

The Ottoman Empire conquered the Kingdom of Bosnia in which year?

Four centuries of Ottoman rule followed, introducing Islam and building Sarajevo and Mostar.

Which empire took over Bosnia's administration at the 1878 Congress of Berlin, then annexed it in 1908?

The 1908 annexation crisis inflamed Serbian nationalism, setting the stage for 1914.

The name Herzegovina derives from the German word for what?

It comes from the title of 15th-century magnate Stjepan Vukčić Kosača, "Herceg of Hum and the Coast".

Which Bosniak politician was president during the 1992-95 war and signed the Dayton Agreement?

He founded the Party of Democratic Action and had been jailed under Yugoslavia for his Islamic Declaration.

Which country did Bosnia and Herzegovina beat for its first World Cup finals win, in 2014?

The team also reached the 2026 World Cup knockout stage but has still never played a European Championship.

Which striker, nicknamed the "Bosnian Diamond", is the national team's all-time top scorer?

He once scored four for Manchester City at Tottenham and topped Serie A scoring with Roma in 2016-17.

Which Sarajevo basketball club, led by Mirza Delibašić, won the European Champions Cup in 1979?

Delibašić was later named one of FIBA's 50 greatest players.

Six children in which Herzegovinian village have claimed Marian apparitions since 1981?

The Vatican authorised pilgrimages in 2019 without confirming the apparitions.

The Sarajevo Haggadah, kept in the National Museum, is a 14th-century illuminated manuscript from where?

Museum librarian Derviš Korkut smuggled it past the Nazis in World War II; it was insured for $7 million in 1992.

Which town, last capital of medieval Bosnia, hosted the 1943 AVNOJ session that laid the basis for Tito's Yugoslavia?

It is famous for a waterfall where the Pliva meets the Vrbas.

Which Bosnian city, the country's third largest, has Europe's only salt lake in its central park?

Its name comes from the Turkish word for salt; the mines have been worked since the 9th century.

Semir Osmanagić claims hills near which town are the world's largest ancient pyramids?

Geologists say they are natural flatirons, but the site draws New Age tourists anyway.

Sevdalinka, Bosnia's traditional urban folk music, takes its name from a Turkish word meaning what?

They are traditionally women's songs of unrequited love, now usually accompanied by accordion.

Which is NOT one of the four European countries never to have won an Olympic medal?

Bosnia first competed under its own flag in 1992, mid-war.

Bosnia's independence referendum of 29 February-1 March 1992 was boycotted by which group?

Turnout was 63.4% and 99.7% voted yes; war began within weeks.

Bosnia's national dish Bosanski lonac is what?

It was originally cooked in earthenware pots buried in a fire pit.

Bosnia and Herzegovina became an official candidate for membership of which organisation in 2022?

It has held a NATO Membership Action Plan since 2010.

The name Bosnia is believed to derive from what?

The river runs through the Bosnian heartland; philologist Anton Mayer traced its own name back to Illyrian roots.

Besides Banja Luka, Mostar and the capital, which is the country's fourth 'official' city?

East Sarajevo lies in Republika Srpska; the other subdivisions are the two entities, ten cantons and 143 municipalities.

How many cantons make up the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity?

Cantons exist only in the Federation, each with its own government; Republika Srpska has none.

The Badanj Cave near Stolac has one of the oldest known cave engravings, believed to show what?

It dates to roughly 13,000 to 12,000 BC, long before the Neolithic Butmir, Kakanj and Vučedol cultures settled the land.

How long does each member of the three-person Presidency serve as its rotating chair?

Members serve four-year terms; Federation voters elect the Bosniak and Croat members and Republika Srpska voters the Serb.

In which event did Bosnian athlete Amel Tuka win World Championship bronze in 2015 and silver in 2019?

Hamza Alić took European indoor shot put silver in 2013 and judoka Amel Mekić was European champion in 2011.

Which newspaper, founded in 1943, is one of the country's longest continuously running?

Its name means 'Liberation'; Dnevni avaz, the Daily Voice, only appeared in 1995.

Which Roman historian called the Bellum Batonianum, in modern Bosnia, Rome's hardest war since the Punic Wars?

Conflict with the Illyrians began in 229 BCE, but Rome only completed its annexation of the region in AD 9.

Which 15th-century magnate's title, Herceg of Hum and the Coast, gave Herzegovina its name?

He took the title in 1448; Hum, formerly Zachlumia, was an early medieval principality.