Underneath the bullet-scarred house, the claustrophobic entrance to what remains of the Sarajevo's wartime tunnel opens to tourists.

"Through this tunnel, my dad used to bring food for my sister and I so we could survive," Admir Jusufbegovic, wrote in his childish handwriting in the tunnel museum's guest book that includes many impressions written down by visitors from as far away as Australia and China.

The 800-meter (2,640-foot) long, one meter (3.3 feet) wide and 1.5-meter (4.95-foot) high Sarajevo tunnel, dug in 1993, was the only safe land route in and out of the city during the three-and-a-half-year-long siege by Bosnian Serb forces.

A year into the 1992-1995 siege, desperate Bosnian army and volunteers using only picks and shovels began to work round-the-clock in three shifts to dig the tunnel under Sarajevo airport.

Four months and four days later the work was finished and the tunnel was installed with a pipeline used for the delivery of oil to the town.

A high-voltage electricity cable was also run through the tunnel which was often flooded by underground water, endangering the 4,000 people who used it on an average day.

"Everything came through the tunnel -- food, electricity, military materiel, fuel, medicines and wounded... Sarajevo would not have survived without it," Edis Kolar, whose house outside the siege area was used as the tunnel's exit point, told AFP.

After the war, Edis and his father Bajro built up the museum to preserve the memory of "Sarajevo's lifeline" during the war.

The museum contains examples of wartime uniforms and weapons, picks and shovels used to make the tunnel as well as humanitarian aid sacks.

The "collection" also includes a wheelchair used to take those too weak to walk through the tunnel. Late Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic also used it when he was leaving the city to join international peace talks.

But the most important exhibit is the tunnel itself, 20 preserved meters (66 feet) of which tourists can walk through.

"A lot of foreigners come here, including almost all ambassadors and many other dignitaries," Edis said.

Those who used tunnel during the war hardly wish to refresh the memories, he added.

"I guess everyone would rather forget having bloodied the head going through the tunnel with some fifty kilos of supplies."

The visitors also get to see television footage shot in Sarajevo during the war and scenes from locally-produced documentaries about the tunnel.

Tour guides praise the dedication of the Kolar family.

"It is thanks to them that we have something to show and in this city, where not much attention is given to tourist attractions, that is important," tour guide Sejo Sefercehajic told AFP.

But despite the tourist appeal, the Sarajevo government has not officially recognized the Kolars' museum and is making plans of its own to mark the site.

"We have developed project documentation, including plans for full reconstruction of the tunnel and building of museum buildings at its entrance and exit points," Azra Zecevic from the development planning institute of the Sarajevo region told AFP.

The land and facilities on both sides of the tunnel could be expropriated for the museum and parking lots built.

However, precise designs are yet to be made and progress on the project will depend on availability of funds, she added.

Edis Kolar quickly dismisses the government's plans, labeling them as "empty promises".

"Instead of helping our project with some modest amount they make plans worth millions. Millions which they will never be able to provide," Kolar said stressing that his family would not let the tunnel be forgotten.

"It runs in the family. I passed the obligation to care for the tunnel on to my son and I hope he will pass it on his children," his father Bajro said.

WAR.WIRE