Editing Siege of Sarajevo (section)

===Structural and property damage and destruction===

[[File:Sarajevo Grbavica.JPG|thumb|left|Heavily damaged apartment buildings near [[Vrbanja bridge]] in the [[Grbavica (Sarajevo)|Grbavica]] district on the left bank of the [[Miljacka]] river, on Zagrebačka street]]
The structural and property damage in Sarajevo as a result of the siege included specifically protected targets such as hospitals and medical complexes, medical facilities (including ambulances) and medical personnel, as well as cultural property, such as the manuscript collection of the [[Oriental Institute in Sarajevo]], one of the richest collections of Oriental manuscripts in the world.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wjfBaNW1i4EC&pg=PA62 |title=Libraries in open societies&nbsp;... – Google Books |isbn=9780789019684 |access-date=5 August 2010|last1=Leich |first1=Harold M. |year=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref> For foreigners, an event that defined the besiegers' cultural objectives occurred during the night of 25 August 1992. This was the bombardment – with incendiary shells – that resulted in the total destruction of the irreplaceable National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the central repository of Bosnian written culture and a major cultural center for all the Balkans. Among the losses were about 700 manuscripts and incunabula, and a unique collection of Bosnian serial publications, some from the middle of the 19th-century Bosnian cultural revival. Libraries all over the world cooperated afterwards to restore some of the lost heritage, through donations and e-texts, rebuilding the Library in cyberspace.

[[File:Evstafiev-bosnia-cello.jpg|thumb|right|[[Vedran Smailović]] playing in the partially destroyed [[National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina|National Library]] in Sarajevo in 1992]] [[File:Dobrinja in 1996.JPEG|thumb|Destruction in Sarajevo's [[Dobrinja]] district photographed after the siege]]

Also unjustified by any military necessity, and equally prohibited, were the attacks on civilian property. The Bosnian government estimated that shelling destroyed over 10,000 apartments and damaged over 100,000 others. Of the other buildings in the city, 23% were reported as seriously damaged, 64% as partially damaged and 10% as slightly damaged. In its report, the [[Council of Europe]]'s Committee on Culture and Education commented on the structural damage in the city.<ref name="UNCOE" /> The Committee stated:

{{blockquote|It is plain that Sarajevo has suffered badly at the hands of its attackers. Apart from the obvious human cost in the continued suffering and difficulties of day to day living, there has been serious damage to the urban fabric. The infrastructure (drainage, electricity, telephone services, etc.) is badly damaged. Most buildings are damaged significantly and probably all buildings are damaged to a greater or lesser degree (broken glass etc.). Some buildings have been completely destroyed including ancient monuments (such as the Library) and including a number of modern steel framed buildings (such as the Unis Building) which in some cases have simply collapsed. 35,000 dwellings are also assessed to have been destroyed during the past year.<ref name="UNCOE" />}}

Sarajevo has made a substantial recovery in terms of the number of buildings that have been fully restored and reoccupied. However, as of 2017, many buildings remained heavily damaged and scarred.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A City that Doesn't Forget: Sarajevo Thirty Years after the War |url=https://www.sah.org/community/sah-blog/sah-blog/2022/07/08/a-city-that-doesn-t-forget-sarajevo-thirty-years-after-the-war |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=Default}}</ref>

Although the city had been a model for inter-ethnic relations,{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} the siege brought dramatic population shifts. In addition to the thousands of refugees who left the city, many Sarajevo Serbs left for the Republika Srpska, and the percentage of Serbs in Sarajevo decreased from more than 30% in 1991 to slightly over 10% in 2002.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} Regions of [[Novo Sarajevo]] that are now part of the Republika Srpska have formed [[East Sarajevo]], where much of the pre-war Serbian population lives today.

New construction projects and foreign capital investment have made Sarajevo perhaps the fastest-growing city in the [[former Yugoslavia]]. The population grew to 401,000 in 2002,<ref name=":7" /> which is 20,000 fewer than the pre-1991 census estimate.

[[File:Robna kuća Sarajka (today BBI Centar).jpg|thumb|center|800px|An iconic building before the war was ''Robna kuća Sarajka''. Today [[ARIA Centar]] stands in its place.]]