Paper short abstract:

In this paper we attempt to analyse different perceptions of symbolic and emotional meanings in cultural heritage of Bosnian-Herzegovinian society after the last war (1992-1995), as well as its social and cultural connotations.

Paper long abstract:

The last president of the former Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Alija Izetbegovic once said "Bosnia and Herzegovina is a small Yugoslavia". Does Bosnia and Herzegovina await for the same destiny as Yugoslavia?

Historically, Yugoslavia ceased to exist after a horrible fratricidal war in the '90s. The consequences of that conflict were death, violent migration, destruction of infrastructure and cultural and urban genocide. Systematic destruction of the cultural heritage had intended to modify and alienate the symbols of the history that were no longer considered part of the collective memory of any of three dominant ethnicities (Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims) and in such a way create new past, present, and future including new and imposed ethnic identities. Thus, destruction of material evidences may be considered as a first step towards the shift in the memory of future generations.

In this paper we attempt to analyse cultural and urban landscape of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the post-war period. In a society divided as the Bosnian-Herzegovinian one, it becomes imperative to analyse different perceptions of symbolic meanings of cultural heritage with the intent to comprehend the reasons of division, as well as its social and cultural connotations.