Sarajevo Youth Theater, whose repertoire offers performances for children, youth and adults, was founded in 1977 when the Pionir Theater and Puppet Theater merged. 

Both of the theaters were founded in 1950 and for the first ten years, Pionir Theater did not have a full-time ensemble but simply recruited actors from other theaters and “child actors” as needed.

By the 1960s it had its own acting troupe and changed its name to Youth Theater and began to take on more ambitious projects.

During that time, the Puppet Theater made use of marionettes as the primary form of expression and under the direction of Adolf Pomezny, the Czech who brought the first marionettes to Sarajevo, the theater became widely-acclaimed.

Later on, the prominent theater professional, Jurislav Korenić, took the helm and ushered in a new period of development for the Puppet Theater. This not only incorporated the use of different puppetry techniques, but also looked at how puppetry might be developed.

During 1977, these two theaters coalesced naturally and joined forces to form the new Youth Theater, which has continued to work on two independent scenes, performing both puppet shows and plays. Over the past four decades the performances and actors have received numerous national, regional and international awards.

Those who have worked with this theater company deserve much praise for keeping Sarajevo’s cultural life alive during the last war and the Siege of Sarajevo.

The building that houses Sarajevo Youth Theater was completed in 1976 and this was the first building constructed after WWII that was built with a specific cultural institution in mind.