- Posted November 28, 2012 by
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Travel photo of the day
Breakfast View in Mostar
If we were to listen, what a story this bridge could tell.
The original stone structure was built in the 1500's to replace a wooden bridge in the same location. The town of Mostar and thus Stari Most Bridge served as a trade route from the Adriatic to the northern regions of Bosnia under Ottoman rule.
Throughout the centuries Mostar was a crossroads for a myriad of cultures and in the mid-1990's the bridge and much of the old city was destroyed in a horrific clash of those cultures during the Bosnian War.
As a result of a worldwide campaign to restore this significant symbol of cultural diversity, it was restored as close as possible to the original structure, using Ottoman construction techniques and reopened in July 2004.
Stari Most was designated in 2005 to the United Nations (UNESCO) World Heritage List with this inscription. "With the “renaissance” of the Old Bridge and its surroundings, the symbolic power and meaning of the City of Mostar - as an exceptional and universal symbol of coexistence of communities from diverse cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds - has been reinforced and strengthened, underlining the unlimited efforts of human solidarity for peace and powerful co-operation in the face of overwhelming catastrophes."
I look forward to a return visit to witness her standing as a lasting symbol of peace and freedom as I sip on my Bosnian coffee.
Tags: Stari Most Bridge, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina, UNESCO, World Heritage List,