Sarajevo City Hall Vijecnica was officially opened on April 20, 1896, and was used for administrative purposes. It was designed in 1891 by the Czech architect Karel Pařík, but criticisms by the minister, Baron Benjamin Kallay, caused him to stop working on the project. It was initially the largest and most representative building of the Austro-Hungarian period in Sarajevo and served as the city hall. After the Second World War it was made available to the National Library and remains in that position until the aggression in BiH. On the night between August 25 and August 26, 1992, it was hit by inflammable artillery missiles. The fire irreversibly destroys the City Hall, together with the huge library fund of the National University Library of about 2 million units. The reconstruction of the City Hall begins in 1996 and lasts until 2014, and the complete reconstruction is done according to the original documentation. The reconstructed City Hall was officially opened on May 9, 2014 on the Day of Europe and the Day of Victory over Fascism. Today it is used in ceremonial occasions at the state and city level, for promotion of events from culture, art and economy, with permanent and occasional museum settings, regular sessions of the City Council, and it seems that the devastation of use is higher than ever before.
