Having been to Sarajevo only once in my lifetime, it’s rather hard to truly depict what Sarajevo looked like before the war. But I came across a series of photographs shot by Jim Marshall, who created a photo capsule of before and after photos of Sarajevo. In 1996 he took photographs of the city immediately after the 1992-96 siege – fifteen years later (2011) he returned and took the same shots from exactly the same locations. 

The photography is simple amazing! Very impressive in many aspects, especially the work and dedication to restore the pictures. Personally, the whole insight is quite unique. Having experienced some war in a different part of Bosnia, I can’t truly imagine what it would have been there to be like in the original images but the recent ones make you feel happy inside that there’s hope and rebuild happening – even at a snails pace. 

Even though these photographs are extraordinary, the reconstruction process is still ongoing, yet unfortunately human wounds is something that can’t be reconstructed as fast as buildings. Needless to say, Sarajevo is one city in Bosnia with some hope that continues to rebuild slowly through time. 

For the full photo set, click here and visit Jim Marshall’s photo capsule. 

Photo Credit (Jim Marshall)