The culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina encompasses the country's ancient heritage, architecture, science, literature, visual arts, music, cinema, sports and cuisine.
Ancient cultural heritage
The rock-carving by an artist found in Badanj Cave near the city of Stolac dates back to Paleolithic times (c. 12,000 and 16,000 BCE). It represents the death of a horse under a rain of arrows. It is the oldest Paleolithic finding in southeast Europe. There is also a rich legacy of Neolithic culture in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Particularly beautiful items have been found in Butmir near Sarajevo (5000 BC). During the Bronze Age, the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina was occupied by Illyrian tribes such as the Japods in Bihać and the Daors in Daorson, near Stolac. They were directly influenced by the Greeks, as seen in Daorson especially. The Illyrians were conquered by the Romans, who left roads, bridges, and beautiful villas with mosaics all over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The best preserved examples are at Mogorjelo near Čapljina and the mosaics at Stolac (dating from the 3rd century). The Christian basilica are found throughout the country (Zenica, Visoko, Mostar, Široki Brijeg), and their carved stone stonework influenced the first original medieval Bosnian art, found on tombstones – stećak.
The Charter of Ban Kulin is the symbolic birth certificate of Bosnia's statehood, as it is the first written document that refers to Bosnia's borders (between the rivers of Drina, Sava and Una) and the elements of the Bosnian state - the ruler, throne and political organization. It is written in Bosnian Cyrillic and it also referred to the people of Bosnia - Bosnianins. The Charter was a trade agreement between Bosnia and the Republic of Dubrovnik.
The most important item in the National Museum in Sarajevo is the Sarajevo Haggadah, a Jewish illuminated codex originally from 12th century Spain. Other important items include Hrvojev's mass (Hrvojev misal) and Hval's Codex (Hvalov zbornik), both Bosnian books of liturgy produced in Croatia at the start of the 15th century, a 16th-century Kur’an and Leontiev's New Testament (Leontijevo četverojevanđelje).
Architecture
After the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina, urban and city development flourished as the Ottomans brought imperial Islamic architecture to the region, partly mixed with local customs (one of them being the use of squinches instead of triangular pendentives found in Turkey). Many mosques and buildings were designed at the beginning. Afterwards, local merchants had more influence and in the 18th and 19th century, there was a rise in European influence. Moorish architecture developed during Austro-Hungarian occupation.
During the Royal Yugoslav period, Bosnia and Herzegovina remained at the margin of interwar architectural modernism in Yugoslavia. Immediately following the Second World War, Yugoslavia's brief association with the Eastern Bloc ushered in a short period of socialist realism, which came to an abrupt end with the 1948 Tito–Stalin Split. In the following years, modernist architecture came to symbolize the nation's break from the USSR (a notion that later diminished with growing acceptability of modernism in the Eastern Bloc).
Science
The Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the country's highest scientific and artistic institution. Initially founded in 1951 as the Scientific Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was upgraded to an academy in 1966.
The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina opened in 1888; it undertook Bosnia's first systematic excavations of archeological sites from 1899 to 1904.
Literature
Bosnia and Herzegovina has a rich literary heritage. Matija Divković, Bosnian Franciscan and writer is considered to be the founder of the modern literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Notable poets include Antun Branko Šimić, Aleksa Šantić, Jovan Dučić and Mak Dizdar. Prominent prose writers include the Nobel Literature Prize laureate Ivo Andrić, Meša Selimović, Zaim Topčić, Zlatko Topčić, Branko Ćopić and Skender Kulenović. Contemporary writers include Semezdin Mehmedinović, Aleksandar Hemon, Miljenko Jergović, Abdulah Sidran, Nedžad Ibrišimović, and Marko Tomaš.
The National Theater was founded in 1919 in Sarajevo and its first director was famous playwright Branislav Nušić. Magazines such as Novi Plamen, Most and Sarajevske sveske are some of the more prominent publications covering cultural and literary themes.