Harvard University will hold a memorial in Boston on September 30, 2026, honoring Andras Riedlmayer, one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s greatest friends and a distinguished honorary member of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS).
During his professional career, Riedlmayer worked as a librarian at Harvard University, where he headed the Aga Khan Collection. He gained international recognition for his dedicated work documenting the destruction of libraries, archives, mosques, and other cultural and religious sites during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later in Kosovo.
He also played an important role in efforts to restore Bosnia and Herzegovina’s damaged and destroyed cultural heritage. In cooperation with Dr. Irvin Schick and Amila Buturović, he helped launch the Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project, which aimed to digitally rebuild the manuscript collection of the Oriental Institute in Sarajevo after it was destroyed in 1992.
His extensive documentation was used as evidence in war crimes trials before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). As an expert witness, he testified courageously and effectively in the proceedings against Slobodan Milošević. His work contributed to the recognition of the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage as a war crime in international legal practice.
Until the end of his life, Andras Riedlmayer never stopped speaking about Bosnia and Herzegovina, advocating for the preservation of its cultural heritage, and working to make Bosnian culture better known around the world.
BHAAAS remembers its honorary member with profound respect and honors his immeasurable contribution to protecting the truth, preserving memory, and safeguarding the cultural heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
We invite BHAAAS members and friends of Bosnia and Herzegovina living in the Boston area to attend the memorial and join us in honoring the life and legacy of Andras Riedlmayer.
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