The Commission to Preserve National Monuments BiH organized on March 27^th 2017, in the International Center for Children and Youth Novo Sarajevo, the award ceremony where for the students, winners of the competition "My BiH – My Heritage", which was realized within the project of the restoration of the building of Red Cross Society BiH.

The campaign started in the spring, last year, when the lectures were organized in elementary schools in Sarajevo, which were involved in the Project: ES “Grbavica II“, ES “Hrasno“, ES “Malta“, ES “Osman Nakaš“, ES “Vladislav Skarić“, ES „Meša Selimović“ and ES “Safvet-beg Bašagić“. The lectures were attended by more than 250 students.

The awards were categorized as follows: the first category for the students from the first to the fifth grade, and the second category for the students from sixth to the ninth grade.

Awards were presented to the students by the assistant of the executive officer of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, Mirela Mulalic-Handan, and the director of the Office for Public Relations with the US Embassy in BiH, Leah Pease.

Mirela Mulalic-Handan stressed out the importance of the campaign, which is being implemented since 2006 with continuous support of the Special Fund of US Ambassadors for the protection of cultural heritage in the US Embassy in BiH. This time, to the project and the campaign, $ 120,000 were provided.

She said that without the support of this Fund, the campaign could not have been realized, and she expressed her appreciation for this cooperation, with the hope that it will be continued in the future. By highlighting the richness and uniqueness of BiH tradition and the culture, she pointed out the significance of this campaign that was aimed at young people in order to teach them to understand the importance of protecting and preserving rich cultural and historical heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She also stressed that the cultural heritage is unique, indispensable and integral part of our identity.

This year, the campaign was realized under the theme "Heritage and Vandalism" since in the first phase of the reconstruction of the Red Cross building there was a protective sheet on the facade, which was immediately written in graffiti.

The director of the Office for Publish Relations with the US Embassy in BiH, Leah Pease, said that the ceremony was dedicated to the awarded students, but also to the marking of the second phase of the restoration of Red Cross Society building.

On behalf of the US Ambassador in BiH, we are hopeful that the building will be open soon and that it will attract people as a magnet to come back to this place, to hang out, enjoy cultural events, and that it will simply become one of the tourist attraction in the city – she said.

Pease hopes that by completing the second phase of the restoration of the building, some other people, organizations and institutions will also recognize the importance of these projects and decide to become themselves a part of them in order to jointly celebrate the common heritage of BiH and the shared future.

The aim of the campaign was to inform and teach children where the creativity ends and the vandalism and lawlessness start. For that purpose, an architect – the artist of street painting, Mensur Demir, was engaged, who explained to the children, through the lectures, the difference between vandalism and street art. In addition to lectures on street art, lectures on national heritage and its protection were also organized.