The Love of Books: A Sarajevo Story (2011)

• 85%
• 2011
• Documentary
• Sam Hobkinson

War-torn Bosnia in 1992. The city of Sarajevo is besieged and burning. Great art treasures are lost in the flames. Only one library remains. Amid bullets and bombs, a group of book-lovers risk their lives to rescue 10,067 irreplaceable Islamic manuscripts. At stake is a nations history and identity...THE LOVE OF BOOKS: A Sarajevo Story, is the thrilling tale of how a group of passionate book lovers risked their lives to save the Gazi Husrav-Beg Library from destruction during the siege of Sarajevo. This is a film about the importance of books, about how libraries are the heart of our cultural identity, repositories for history and memory. At the same time the film reveals a magnificent collection of Islamic books and manuscripts not just the biggest and most important in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also one of global significance. Founded in 1537, the library contains more than 80,000 books, periodicals and manuscripts, many of which are the finest of their kind in the world. For those who cared for this collection, every single unique manuscript had to be preserved at all costs.