Aerial tilt-shift timelapse turns Sarajevo’s abandoned 1984 Olympic Village to miniature

The 1984 Winter Olympics took place in Sarajevo, in former Yugoslavia (today Bosnia and Herzegovina). It was the first Winter Olympic Games held in a socialist state after many countries boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Although the Olympic Village in Sarajevo is abandoned today, it inspires artists and urban explorers. One of them is Joerg Daiber of Little Big World. Using a drone and a tilt-shift effect, he shot a timelapse of the grandiose venue in an unexpected way – he turned it into a miniature.

Joerg uses a DJI Mavic 2 Pro and the lightweight DJI Mini 2 for his aerial shots. He notes that the Mini 2 is great for the new EU regulation, considering that it weighs just under 250g so it doesn’t need registration.

As I mentioned, the Olympic Village in Sarajevo is now abandoned and a lot of it has been destroyed. The reason behind it is the Bosnian war (1992 – 1995). The Village was used for a whole different kind of battle than the one in sports, and even today you can see the consequences of this mindless act.

Today, most parts of the Olympic Village remain abandoned and ruined. However, the bobsled track is now used for graffiti art and for bikers to practice. The cable car officially reopened in 2018, and you can see it in the timelapse. And last but not least, this place inspires artists for photo and video work.

For those of you who don’t know, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were both parts of Yugoslavia, along with North Macedonia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia. Yugoslavia was the country I was born into, and it officially dissolved four years after my birth. I live in Serbia now, and half of my family came here from Bosnia. So for me personally, seeing this video was extremely emotional aside from the fact that it’s absolutely stunning to watch. If you enjoyed it or felt something while watching it as I did, make sure to find more of Joerg’s work on his Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

[Abandoned Olympic Ruins in Sarajevo via Laughing Squid]