The war in Bosnia and Herzegovina ended in 1995 with the Dayton Peace Agreement, which determined the subsequent political functioning of the state. One of the purposes of the agreement was to ensure the establishment of relationships between the state, other political structures, and the Bosnian cultural and art institutions as soon as possible. However, to date, these relationships have not been instituted.

One of the consequences of this state of affairs has been the recent closure of the Umjetnička galerija BiH / Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most important museum of modern and contemporary art in the state, a disastrous situation brought to our attention by our colleagues in Sarajevo, who have also warned of similar circumstances in other cultural and artistic institutions in the city.

Having last voiced our shock at the horrors of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we are now concerned about the ongoing functioning of the region’s main cultural institutions, insofar as these betray the functioning of the state itself. Moreover, we ask ourselves what can possibly remain of a state once the institutions responsible for its cultural heritage have closed their doors.

CIMAM – International Committee of ICOM for Museums and Collections of Modern Art – addresses this petition to you, Honourable Minister Salmir Kaplan, in the hope that you will do everything in your power to resolve the status of the Umjetnička galerija BiH, and that of all other museums and cultural institutions in Sarajevo.