Geography and history have made Bosnia-Herzegovina’s cultural heritage a complex mixture of Mediterranean, Byzantine, Ottoman and Central European influences. Situated on the borders of Western and Eastern Christianity, the site of a vital Mediaeval kingdom where an indigenous Bosnian Church co-existed with the Catholic and Orthodox faiths, then a part of the Ottoman empire for over 400 years, in the 19th century it became absorbed into another empire – the Austro-Hungarian - until its incorporation into the kingdom of Yugoslavia after WW1. This section introduces this intertwined cultural heritage, much of which remains despite the destruction of the war. Living heritage can be found even now among the metalworkers of Sarajevo’s Bašcaršija and rural potters still using ancient methods of firing, while Bosnia’s museums remain the best repositories of artefacts from the country’s diverse past.
