Sarajevo Jewish Heritage Guided Tour

Explore Sarajevo's Jewish heritage on a 4-hour guided tour with a licensed professional guide and key historic sites included.

Getting started

Meet your licensed professional local guide in central Sarajevo to begin your 4-hour guided Jewish heritage tour. After a short introduction to the route, you set off on foot through the Old Town. Once the Old Town section is covered, you board air-conditioned transportation to reach Jewish heritage sites and monuments located outside the historic center.

What to expect

Old Jewish Temple and Jewish Museum

Your first major stop is the historic Old Jewish Temple, today home to the Jewish Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This building anchors the story of more than 450 years of Jewish life in Sarajevo.

Features

• Inside the Old Jewish Temple, your guide uses the exhibits of the Jewish Museum to trace Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions and their influence on Sarajevo's culture and daily life.
• The visit to the Old Jewish Temple and Jewish Museum is part of your guided exploration, with your licensed professional local guide connecting artifacts and photographs to the families and events they represent.
• You also hear how former synagogues, Jewish schools, and family palaces once formed a dense network of Jewish heritage sites across the city, setting the context for the rest of the tour.

Ashkenazi Synagogue

Continuing along the river, you arrive at the Ashkenazi Synagogue, which still serves Sarajevo's Jewish community today. It highlights the Ashkenazi strand of the city's Jewish history.

Features

• During the visit to the Ashkenazi Synagogue, your guide points out architectural details and ritual objects that illustrate Ashkenazi religious practice, subject to opening hours.
• This stop is included in the 4-hour guided Jewish heritage tour and helps you compare Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions as they developed side by side in Sarajevo.
• Stories shared here introduce key community figures and lead into later chapters, including the experiences of Sarajevo's Jews during World War II and the Siege of Sarajevo.

Jewish Cemetery

You then travel by air-conditioned transportation outside the Old Town to Sarajevo's historic Jewish Cemetery. This hillside site is one of the most significant Sephardic cemeteries in the region.

Features

• On your guided visit to the Jewish Cemetery, you walk among centuries-old Sephardic tombstones while your guide explains their inscriptions, symbols, and distinctive shapes.
• The cemetery visit is included as a core part of the tour and provides space to discuss how the community was affected during World War II and the Siege of Sarajevo.
• From this vantage point, your guide also points out where former synagogues, Jewish schools, and family palaces once stood in relation to the city below.

National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sarajevo Haggadah

The final main stop is the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the Sarajevo Haggadah is preserved. Here, manuscripts and objects connect local Jewish history to wider European stories.

Features

• At the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, your visit includes a focused story and presentation of the Sarajevo Haggadah, a 14th-century illuminated Jewish manuscript.
• On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when museum scheduling allows, the tour includes viewing of the Sarajevo Haggadah itself, with your guide explaining its journey to Sarajevo and how it survived periods of conflict.
• This museum visit is included in the Jewish Grand Tour and rounds out your guided exploration of important Jewish heritage sites and monuments throughout Sarajevo.