Since the very beginning of its work, the National Museum has developed as a complex cultural and scientific institution fostering a number of scientific and scholarly disciplines, i. e. history, geography, archaeology (prehistoric, ancient and mediaeval), ethnology, history of art and natural history (biology, geology and mineralogy), and to some extent language, literature, statistics and bibliography. Over the years these disciplines have been rationalized into the present three departments: Archaeology, Ethnology and Natural History.  Since the outset, considerable attention has been paid to the educational and cultural function of the Museum.   Museological activities have also created a basis for the acquisition of all the existing collections through research work in the field, purchase, exchange or gifts to the Museum.

 

During the Austro-Hungarian period, scientific research activity strongly influenced by the development and orientation of 19th European century science and culture, and therefore concentrated on archaeology and natural history in particular.

Its operations were suspended during the 1914-1918 Great War, which was followed by the first union of the South Slavs, known initially as the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and later as Yugoslavia (1918-1945)  This period was marked by the development of a hegemonic centralized administration dictated by the Court and the Greater Serbian bourgeoisie, and by a marked decrease in all areas of the National Museum's activities. Bosnia and Herzegovina abruptly found itself on the margins of the socio-economic, political and cultural mainstream.  However, the troubles of the National Museum did not end there. World War II (which lasted from 1941 to 1945 in this part of the world) again deprived the National Museum of opportunities to operate and develop, so much so that this period marks the Museum's lowest levels of activity.

 

The initial period of stabilization of the National Museum after the end of World War II made but slow progress until the early 1960s. Within the context of the general advances made in socio-economic relations, culture was declared to be of special importance for society. This was a period when the National Museum achieved outstanding results in all its activities, surpassing in many ways what was done during the Austro-Hungarian period. This applied especially to scientific research and publishing activities and exhibitions.

 

The aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the 1992-1995 war that followed caused not only a break in the development of the Museum, but direct devastation and damage to the four buildings of the Museum complex and to the Botanical Garden.  The Museum's artifacts, including its wealth of library holdings, were saved thanks above all to people who did not abandon the Museum even in the most difficult of circumstances.

 

Just as in previous times the Museum shared the fate of Bosnia and Herzegovina, now that the war is over its life and work again reflect the life of Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina.   Thanks to numerous donations and the dedication of its staff, the Museum is gradually recovering from the devastation of the war.  Assistance in the rehabilitation of this cultural institution has been provided by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNESCO, the Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport, the Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport of Sarajevo Canton, the Institute for Planning and Construction of the City of Sarajevo, the International Peace Center in Sarajevo, Swiss museums, Swiss ICOM and the Swiss National Museum in Zurich, BHHR, Norks Folkesmuseum from Oslo, the Swedish Cultural Heritage without Borders Foundation, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Ethnography, the Museum of Islamic Art and other Swedish museums, as well as many others.