
From bullet-scarred ruins to modern city, a photographer has documented the transformation of Sarajevo since it was torn apart by civil war.

British refugee worker Jim Marshall, 42, from East Kilbride in Scotland, decided to stay in the city to help its desperate residents during the bloody siege of Sarajevo 15 years ago.

During rare moments of calm Mr Marshall documented the daily destruction he saw. Now he has revisited the ruins of 1996 to show how the city has transformed itself.

Transformation: Emerika Bluma Street, formerly known as Beogradska Street in Kova, Sajajevo, Bosnia

This picture shows how the front of the Loris residential building, in Grbavica, was reduced to rubble, yet now you would never know

Then and now: The destroyed and now partially restored interior of the National and University Library in 1997 and 15 years later in Sarajevo, Bosnia

His pictures show how the hard work of survivors of Europe's worst conflict since World War Two have turned what was once a hellish war zone into a smart European metropolis.

A part time photographer, Mr Marshall risked his life to help the Bosnian people at the height of the devastation of the Yugoslav conflict.

'The photographs that I took in the spring of 1996 capture the physical devastation wrought by four years of siege,' he said.

'They signify the savagery of those who besieged the city and the courage of those who lived in the ruins.

'Living there was dangerous. During my time in the war I was beaten, shot through the leg and was seated in a vehicle hit by an anti-aircraft round.

'Once I was trapped for 20 minutes in a small Sarajevo street in which I had to run from doorway to doorway to escape from sniper fire.'

The Grbavica area in 1997 was a desolate place scarred by war. Now it is a thriving residential area again

Mr Marshall 's personal love-affair with the traumatised city began in 1994, when he was just 24. Working under siege during the heart of the conflict, he helped the city's refugees survive the terror of daily life.

Often under fire himself, Mr Marshall was determined to document the damage to the city with his camera.

From 1992 to 1996 Sarajevo's population of just over 500,000 people suffered shelling, tank fire and sniper attacks by 18,000 Serbian soldiers when they tried to break-away from Yugoslavia.

Lease of life: The Unis towers, now named the Unitic Business Centre in Marijin dvor, Sarajevo The main post office in Obala, Sajajevo, was ridden with bullet holes in 1997. Not it has been brought back to its former glory

More than 11,000 people lost their lives, and large parts of the city were destroyed.

'The city during the siege was an indescribably surreal place,' said Mr Marshall . 'It really was a living nightmare - hundreds and even thousands of shells would land within the besieged areas of the city in a single day. The sniping would be incessant.

'Literally nowhere in the city was safe from the constant assault.

'Civilians were killed or injured on their balconies, in their beds, on buses, in hospital wards, at funerals and, especially, whilst running or cycling through the streets.'

Eventually Sarajevo found peace in 1996 after U.S.-led NATO airstrikes devastated Serbian forces, who were forced to withdraw. Mr Marshall continued to live in the city in the aftermath of war and now considers himself a local.

Sarajevo, now the capital of the new state of Bosnia-Herzegovina, has recovered thanks to the pain-staking reconstruction effort of survivors.



Sign of the times: A view of Grbavica from Vilsonovo Avenue shows how times have changed for the residents Welcoming: The Holiday Inn, Marijin dvor wasn't a place you'd want to stay in 1997. Now it is back to its best

'The city is virtually unrecognisable as the same city photographed in 1996,' said Mr Marshall . 'There is little left in the city of the severe destruction it suffered during the siege.

'Only pockmarks on the walls of the buildings and shell markings on the roads, known as Sarajevo roses, remain.

'Otherwise the burned out apartment blocks, offices, hospitals, schools and government buildings have been either rebuilt or in some cases completely removed.

'Recent images of the new Sarajevo embody life, hope and the triumph of the human spirit.'

Wrecked and rebuilt: Vrazova, with the old Military Hospital, in the centre looks completely different Marshall Tito Street, with the old Sarajka shopping centre, now the BBI centre, on the right

Sarajevo's Socijalno area with the Elektroprivreda (state electricity company) headquarters on the right