The Olympic Museum was founded with the aim of preserving, for posterity’s sake, the memory of the organization and realization of the XIV Winter Olympic Games (WOG) which were held in the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1984.

From 1984 to 1992, the museum was housed in a prominent villa in the center of Sarajevo, which had been designed by the famous Czech Architect, Karlo Paržik, for Nikola Mandić, a Sarajevo lawyer and politician. Mandić, who served as President of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and was later deemed an enemy of the state, lost his life and property after the Second World War.

On April 27, 1992, right at the beginning of the last war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Olympic Museum was hit by grenades. The building was badly damaged and many valuable items went up in smoke.

However, most of the collection was salvaged and transferred to the Zetra Olympic Complex and the new Olympic Museum of BiH was opened in 2004 to mark the 20th anniversary of the XIV WOG.

Many items related to the XIV Winter Olympic Games have been donated, which has helped replenish the museum’s collection, and renovation of the Olympic Museum is in progress.