The tunnel became a major way of bypassing the international arms embargo and providing the city defenders with weaponry.

[1] The tunnel was to link Butmir and Dobrinja,[1] two Bosnia-held neighborhoods; one inside Serbian siege lines and the other outside.

[2] Nedžad Branković, a Bosnian civil engineer, created the plans for the tunnel's construction underneath the Sarajevo airport runway.

[1] The construction was assigned to the First Corps Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the supervision of deputy commander General Rašid Zorlak.

[1] Consequently, the tunnel was dug by hand, with shovels and picks, and wheelbarrows were used to carry 1,200 cubic metres (42,000 cu ft)[1] of detritus away.

[1] The workers were paid with one packet of cigarettes per day, an item that was in high demand and a prized bartering possession.

[1] There is also a section called the 'reduced level entrance', a 30-metre (100 ft) portion on the Dobrinja side that was the deepest and most difficult stretch of the tunnel to construct.

[4] Food,[1] cigarettes,[1] alcohol,[4] and petrol[4] also passed through the tunnel allowing Butmir, Kolonija, and Hrasnica to become blackmarket centers for the illegal sale of these items.

[8] The entrance to the tunnel was protected by the Bosnian army, and a permit was required to enter and leave the city by this underground route.

[9] In 2004, local planning authorities were seeking funding for a "full reconstruction of the tunnel" and the "construction of museum buildings at its entrance and exit points".

[11] The house and the land around Sarajevo Tunnel's entrance are owned by Bajro Kolar, a local man who runs the private museum.

Having existed for 15 years without any governmental financial support, the museum is becoming one of the most visited sites of the Bosnian capital, with hundreds of daily visitors.

Many guided tours in Sarajevo include the Tunnel Museum as one of the war sites most worth visiting in the city.