It was Sarajevo’s Golden Moment. The opening of the Olympic Winter Games in 1984 marked an era of prosperity and made the world take notice of this unique city so rich in culture and tolerance. Today, most sports sites are in ruins. Sarajevo photographer and artist Majda Turkić captured the melancholy of the memory of Sarajevo’s Golden Moment on Mount Trebević, site of the Olympic Bob Track, in a photo essay for Balkan Stories Blog.

During the war, Yugoslav/Serb artillery was stationed on the mountain, firing down on the city that just a few years earlier had been, at least for a moment in history, the embodiment of the dream that the joy of peaceful competition might help us overcome what sets us apart.

What ensued was the longest siege in modern history. Sarajevans, Bosnjaks, Croats and Serbs alike, held out for 1425 days until the war ended. Bosnia has never fully recovered from that war.

Title photograph: The Olympic Bob Track, Trebević, Sarajevo (c) Majda Turkić, All Rights Reserved