From July 1993 until the end of the Siege in late February 1996, the Sarajevo War Tunnel was the only connection besieged Sarajevo had with the outside world.

It took more than six months to dig the tunnel and was done using pickaxes and shovels. The only source of light the workers had was provided by “war candles”, containers filled with cooking oil and fitted with a wick made from string.

On the night of July 30, 1993, the tunnel was finally completed, giving Sarajevo an outlet to the world. The 800-meter-long corridor is a little over a meter wide and has an average height of 1.5 meters.

Thanks to the tunnel, the beleaguered city regained access to telephone lines, oil supplies, food and electric energy.

After the war, about 20 meters of the tunnel became part of a museum which contains many items from the time of the Siege of Sarajevo – the longest-running siege of any city in modern history.