Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel carried out a range of engagements focusing on environmental issues and Sarajevo’s history on the final day of their Bosnia and Herzegovina tour.
The Crown Princess Couple started the day at Sarajevo Music Academy, where they enjoyed a concert from some of the school’s students and also heard from Edin Forto, Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton, about how to make public buildings like the academy more energy-efficient. The school’s renovation was part of the city’s efforts to become more environmentally friendly; other projects include buying electric buses, introducing new targets for CO2 emissions and investing in waste incineration instead of refuse.
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In a speech she delivered Wednesday, the Crown Princess said that “threats of climate change and environmental pollution are real” and urged leaders to address the problems facing Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has some of the highest concentrations of air pollution in Europe.
Moving on, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel travelled to the Civil Society Promotion Center along with Swedish Minister of State Isabella Lövin where they met the Mayor of Sarajevo, Abdulah Skaka, and Mayor of East Sarajevo, Nenad Vuković. The group attended a workshop with 20 teenagers from ages 15-18 to discuss environmental issues with a focus on recycling and picking trash in nature.
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Speaking of nature, the Crown Princess Couple bundled up and hiked to a popular spot to take in a gorgeous view of Sarajevo. The site of the old Olympic 1984 course is a frequently-visited destination for tourists, although the bobsled and luge track has since been destroyed and is now covered in grass. Nearby, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel saw the Mine Action Group and their dogs at work. The organisation is working to eliminate landmines from the Bosnian conflicts in the 1990s that are still posing a significant threat to those in the region.
Next, a visit to the National Museum in Sarajevo gave the couple an inside look at the area’s history, including a renowned illuminated manuscript from the 1300s called “The Sarajavo Haggadah.” It features illustrations of scenes from the Bible in copper and gold.
They also paid a visit to the Sarajevo Tunnel Museum where the Crown Princess Couple witnessed how food and supplies were transported during the 1992-1995 siege on the city. The tunnel was created by residents under the Sarajevo airport in order to link Sarajevo to Bosnian-held territory on the other end of airport controlled by the United Nations.
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The Crown Princess Couple took a walk through the tunnel, which, according to the museum, “was one of the major ways of bypassing the international arms embargo and providing the city defenders with weaponry.”
In future, we’ll see an increased workload of state visits like this as the Crown Princess Couple prepares to take on more duties on behalf of The King and Queen.
