KOŠEVO OLYMPIC COMPLEX

This sports complex (Olimpijski Centar Koševo) was built for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, around the stadium now named Asim-Ferhatović-Hase. It was here that the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, figure skating competitions and some of the ice hockey matches were held. But during the siege of the city, between 1992 and 1996, it is here that were moved all a part of the victims of the snipers and the Bosnian-Serb artillery: the refrigerating installations of the ice rink were used as morgue, the wooden benches were transformed into coffins and all the adjacent grounds became a vast necropolis. The large Zetra hall housing an ice rink was partly destroyed in 1993. It is now named in honor of Juan Antonio Samaranch (1920-2010), president of the International Olympic Committee who helped rebuild the facilities. Today, the logo of the 1984 Games and the Olympic rings remain visible at the entrance of the complex and on the stadium. It is also there that sits the organization ZOI 84 in charge of the former infrastructures of the Olympic Games (see mount Igman). If several cemeteries surround the site, the Olympic complex is very frequented with its tennis courts, its climbing room, its two skating rinks and its large stadium where soccer matches of the national team and the club FK Sarajevo, but also concerts and big events take place.