Kovači Cemetery

The Kovači Memorial Cemetery is also known as the Martyrs' Cemetery, in reference to the Bosniaks buried here who died defending themselves and their city from Serbian aggressors during the tragic civil war that raged from 1991 to 1995. The first president of independent Bosnia, Alija Izetbegović, is also buried here. You can view the cemetery from the nearby hill known as the Yellow Fortress — a beautiful, eerie spot from which to watch the sunset over the city. Part of Sarajevo's recent past is the terrible and brutal civil war of the early 1990s. Sarajevo was one of the main battlegrounds between the Serbian and Bosnian armies, including a siege that lasted almost four years (longer than the sieges of Leningrad and Stalingrad). The Kovači Memorial Cemetery is specifically named in honor of the Bosnians who died during the siege defending themselves from Serbian aggressors, and is therefore also known as the Martyrs' Cemetery.