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Susan Sontag Square, National Theatre Sarajevo, 2026

04 Sep 2026 · Mari Lynam Fitzpatrick

The streets were laid out with all the paraphernalia required to host the numbers expected on the night. The beer, spirits and coffee flowed and my brother and I found a couple of comfortable chairs to sit back and watch the world pass by.

Well. It was too good a chance to miss and later as we browsed through the streets, music, chatter and laughter mingled with smoke and heat and for a few mintues I was 22/23/24 again, and walking up to Slane castle to hear the Stones, Bowie and Bruce Springstein concerts in Co. Meath in Ireland.

Susan Sontag once said "It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects ..." and it does both forwards and backwards.

Later during the night I woke to earthquake tremors, nothing massive. It was just enough of a nudge to bring to mind the people who are fighting the flames in this year of extreme climate spills.

And after breakfast, we drove up to the Tunnel of Hope and from there onto the Bjelašnica Ski Resort. At 2,067 meters it is there highest resort and features olympic quality slopes. The winter olympics was held there in 1984. Do you remember Torville and Dean's perfect 6 score for artistic impression in the Sarajevo Winter Olympics.

Tunnel of Hope
During the war, the Tunnel of Hope linked the Sarajevo neighbourhoods of Dobrinja and Butmir (giving it the name "Tunnel D-B"), allowing food, war supplies, and humanitarian aid to come into the city, and allowing people to get out. The tunnel became a major way of bypassing the international arms embargo and providing the city defenders with weaponry. It is located near the city's international airport. It was created on land owned by the Kolmar family and it was 800 meters long. More to follow ...

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