page_title: Sarajevo Tunnel
section_title: Usage
hierarchical_section_title: Sarajevo Tunnel / Usage
caption_attribution_description: English: Sarajevo Tunnel Museum visitors watch educational videos
context_page_description: The Sarajevo Tunnel, also known as Tunel spasa and Tunnel of Hope, was a tunnel constructed between March and June 1993 during the Siege of Sarajevo in the midst of the Bosnian War. It was built by the Bosnian Army in order to link the city of Sarajevo, which was entirely cut off by Serbian forces, with Bosnian-held territory on the other side of the Sarajevo Airport, an area controlled by the United Nations.
  The tunnel linked the Sarajevo neighborhoods of Dobrinja and Butmir, allowing food, war supplies, and humanitarian aid to come into the city, and allowing people to get out. The tunnel became a major way of bypassing the international arms embargo and providing the city defenders with weaponry.
context_section_description: The tunnel was constructed during the Bosnian War as a means by which to link two Bosnian held territories that had been cut off by the Army of Republika Srpska. The tunnel provided a crude way to supply Bosnian units and civilians in Sarajevo. It also allowed for communication between the Bosnian and Bosnian-allied forces in Sarajevo and outside territories. It became a symbol of the city's struggle. It allowed humanitarian aid to be given to the Bosnians and it let them flee the city.
  The tunnel was used to supply the Bosnian armed forces with wartime supplies, including food, fuel, newspapers, and weapons. Wagons were used to cart supplies through the tunnel and could be loaded with 400 kilograms of goods at a time. The first items to go through the tunnel were Bosnian IEDs. Food, cigarettes, alcohol, and petrol also passed through the tunnel allowing Butmir, Kolonija, and Hrasnica to become blackmarket centers for the illegal sale of these items. The tunnel was also used to transport oil, and for telecommunication.
  The tunnel was also used as a way for Bosnians to get out of Sarajevo. Transit each way, both into the city and out of the city, was constant. Every day, between 3000 and 4,000 Bosnian soldiers (as well as civilians) and 30 tons of various goods passed through the tunnel.  Groups traveling through the tunnel ranged in size from 20 to 1,000 people. On average, it took 2 hours for these groups to travel through the tunnel. Throughout the war, between two million and three million trips of Bosnians were made through the tunnel, and a number of Bosnian civilians used the tunnel to flee Sarajevo. Those who traveled through the tunnel included soldiers, civilians, politicians, and generals. Alija Izetbegović, President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is the most notable individual who used the tunnel. He was carried through the tunnel on a chair called the "President's Chair" and thus never actually laid foot in the tunnel.
  The entrance to the tunnel was protected by the Bosnian army, and a permit was required to enter and leave the city by this underground route. There were reports of Bosnian civilians being forced to pay up to $120 USD to the Bosnian army for passage for themselves and their families through the tunnel.
caption: Educational video screening at Sarajevo Tunnel Museum.
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