Human settlements on the river Neretva, betweenMount Hum and theVelež Mountain, have existed since prehistory, as witnessed by discoveries of fortified enceintes and cemeteries. Evidence ofRoman occupation was discovered beneath the present town.[10]
As far as medieval Mostar goes, although the Christian basilicas of late antiquity remained in use, few historical sources were preserved and not much is known about this period. The name of Mostar was first mentioned in a document dating from 1474, taking its name from the bridge-keepers (mostari); this refers to the existence of a wooden bridge from the market on the left bank of the river which was used by traders, soldiers, and other travelers. During this time it was also the seat of akadiluk (district with a regional judge). Since Mostar was on the trade route between theAdriatic and the mineral-rich regions ofcentral Bosnia, the settlement began to spread to the right bank of the river.[10]
Prior to 1474 the names of two towns appear in medieval historical sources, along with their later medieval territories and properties – the towns of Nebojša and Cimski grad. In the early 15th century the county (župa) of Večenike covered the site of the present-day Mostar along the right bank of the Neretva, including the sites of Zahum,Cim,Ilići,Raštani andVojno. It was at the center of this area, which in 1408 belonged toRadivojević, who built Cim Fort (prior to 1443). Mostar is indirectly referred to in a 1454 charter of KingAlfonso V of Aragon asPons ("bridge"), for a bridge had already been built there. Prior to 1444, the Nebojša Tower was built on the left bank of the Neretva, which belonged to the late medieval county still known as Večenike or Večerić.[15] The earliest documentary reference to Mostar as a settlement dates from 3 April 1452, whenRagusans fromDubrovnik wrote to their fellow countrymen in the service of Serbian DespotĐorđe Branković to say thatVladislav Hercegović had turned against his fatherStjepan and occupied the town ofBlagaj and other places, including“Duo Castelli al ponte de Neretua.”.[16]
In 1468 the region came under the rule of theOttoman Empire[16] and theurbanization of the settlement began. It was namedKöprühisar, meaning fortress at the bridge, at the centre of which was a cluster of 15 houses. The town was organized into two distinct areas:čaršija, the crafts and commercial centre of the settlement, andmahala or a residential area.[17]
The town was fortified between the years 1520 and 1566, and the wooden bridge rebuilt in stone.[10] In 1519 (Hijri 925) the settlement was recorded as a castle and both as Mostar and as Köprühisar and it was inhabited by Muslims and Christians. It had four Muslim households and 85 Christian households.[18] The stone bridge, theOld Bridge (Stari most), was erected in 1566 on the orders of SultanSuleiman the Magnificent[19] and at 28 m (92 ft) long and 20 m (66 ft) high, quickly became a wonder in its own time. Later becoming the city's symbol, the Old Bridge was designed byMimar Hayruddin,[13] a student and apprentice of Ottoman architectMimar Sinan. In the late 16th century, Köprühisar was one of the towns of theSanjak of Herzegovina. In the 17th century, Turkish traveler and authorEvliya Çelebi wrote of the bridge thus:
the bridge is like a rainbow arch soaring up to the skies, extending from one cliff to the other... I, a poor and miserable servant of Allah, have passed through 16 countries, but I have never seen such a high bridge. It is thrown from rock to rock as high as the sky.[20]
The first church in the city of Mostar, aSerbian Orthodox Church, was built in 1834 during Ottoman rule.[21]
During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule (1878–1918), Mostar's city council cooperated with the Austro-Hungarian administration to implement sweeping reforms in city planning: broad avenues and an urban grid were imposed on the western bank of the Neretva, and significant investments were made in infrastructure, communications and housing. City administrators likeMustafa Mujaga Komadina were central players in these transformations, which facilitated growth and linked the eastern and western banks of the city. Noteworthy examples of Austro-Hungarian architecture includeHotel Neretva, the Municipality building, which was designed by the architectJosip Vancaš fromSarajevo, residential districts around the Rondo, andGimnazija Mostar from 1902 designed byFrantišek Blažek.
8th Yugoslav Partisans' Corps in liberated Mostar, February 1945
Between 1948 and 1974 the industrial base was expanded with construction of ametal-working factory,cotton textile mills, and an aluminum plant. Skilled workers, both men and women, entered the work force and the social and demographic profile of the city was broadened dramatically; between 1945 and 1980, Mostar's population grew from 18,000 to 100,000.
Because Mostar's eastern bank was burdened by inadequate infrastructure, the city expanded on the western bank with the construction of large residential blocks. Local architects favored an austeremodernist aesthetic, prefabrication and repetitive modules. Commercial buildings in thefunctionalist style appeared on the historic eastern side of the city as well, replacing more intimate timber constructions that had survived since Ottoman times. In the 1970s and 1980s, a healthy local economy fueled by foreign investment spurred recognition and conservation of the city's cultural heritage. An economically sustainable plan to preserve the old town of Mostar was implemented by the municipality, which drew thousands of tourists from the Adriatic coast and invigorated the economy of the city. The results of this ten-year project earned Mostar anAga Khan Award for Architecture in 1986.[23]
According to the1991 census, Mostar had 127,000 inhabitants with roughly an equal number ofBosniaks (34.6%) andCroats (34%), 18.8%Serbs, and 13.6% of those who declared themselvesYugoslavs or Others.[24]
After Bosnia and Herzegovina declaredindependence from Yugoslavia in April 1992, the town wasbesieged by theYugoslav People's Army (JNA), following clashes between the JNA and Croat forces. The Croats were organized into theCroatian Defence Council (HVO)[25] and were joined by a sizable number of Bosniaks.[26] The JNA artillery periodically shelled neighbourhoods outside of their control from early April.[27]
On 7 June theCroatian Army (HV) launched an offensive code namedOperation Jackal, the objective of which was to relieve Mostar and break the JNAsiege of Dubrovnik. The offensive was supported by the HVO, which attacked theArmy of Republika Srpska (VRS) positions around Mostar. By 12 June the HVO secured the western part of the city and by 21 June the VRS was completely pushed out from the eastern part. Numerous religious buildings and most of the city's bridges were destroyed or severely damaged during the fighting.[27] Among them were theCatholicCathedral of Mary, Mother of the Church, theFranciscan Church and Monastery, the Bishop's Palace and 12 out of 14 mosques in the city. After the VRS was pushed from the city, theSerbian OrthodoxŽitomislić Monastery and theCathedral of the Holy Trinity were demolished.[28]
Throughout late 1992, tensions between Croats and Bosniaks increased in Mostar. In early 1993 theCroat–Bosniak War escalated and by mid-April 1993 Mostar had become a divided city with the western part dominated by HVO forces and the eastern part controlled by theArmy of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH).[29] Fighting broke out in May when both sides of the city came under intense artillery fire.[30] The city was divided along ethnic lines, with a number of offensives taking place, resulting in a series of stalemates.[31][32][33] The Croat–Bosniak conflict ended with the signing of theWashington Agreement in 1994, and the Bosnian War ended with theDayton Agreement in 1995. Around 2,000 people died in Mostar during the war.[34]
Two wars (Serb forces versus Bosniak and Croatian and Croat-Bosniak war) left Mostar physically devastated and ethno-territorially divided between a Croat-majority west bank (with ca. 55,000 residents) and a Bosniak-majority old City and east bank (with ca. 50,000 residents), with the frontline running parallel to the Neretva River. Most Serbs had fled the city.[35]
A monumental project to rebuild the Old Bridge, which was destroyed during theBosnian War by HVO, to the original design, and restore surrounding structures and historic neighbourhoods was initiated in 1999 and mostly completed by spring 2004. The money for this reconstruction was donated bySpain[citation needed] (who had a sizable contingent of peacekeeping troops stationed in the surrounding area during the conflict), theUnited States,Turkey,Italy, theNetherlands, andCroatia. A grand opening was held on 23 July 2004 under heavy security.
In parallel, theAga Khan Trust for Culture and theWorld Monuments Fund, with funding provided by theWorld Bank, undertook a five-year-long restoration and rehabilitation effort to regenerate the most significant areas of historic Mostar, and particularly the urban tissue around the Old Bridge. Also in July 2004, the Stari Grad Agency was launched to operate and maintain the restored buildings, including the Old Bridge complex, and promote Mostar as a cultural and tourist destination.[37]
International reconstruction efforts also aimed at the reunification of the divided city. The February 1996 Mostar Agreement led to the adoption of the Interim Statute of the city the same month, and to a 1-year period of EUAM, headed by formerBremen mayorHans Koschnick, until early 1997.[38]
After six years of implementation, in 2003OHRPaddy Ashdown established an "international commission for reforming Mostar", whose final report noted how the HDZ/SDA power-sharing in Mostar had entrenched division and corruption, with "rampant parallelism" in administrative structures and usurpation of power by the municipalities over the City.[24]: 5 A new Statute was negotiated, and finally imposed in February 2004 byOHRPaddy Ashdown.[24]: 6
In November 2010, theConstitutional Court struck down as discriminatory the electoral framework for Mostar. The Bosniak and Croat ruling parties were unable, however, to reach a new compromise. Lacking a legal basis, local elections could not take place in Mostar in2012 and2016, and outgoing mayorLjubo Bešlić (HDZ BiH) remained in office as the only person authorised to allocate the city budget on an emergency basis. Almost a decade without administration led to a decline in service provision, including trash collection. In October 2019Irma Baralija won a case against Bosnia and Herzegovina at theEuropean Court of Human Rights for the lack of elections in Mostar. Finally, a political deal, agreed under international mediation in June 2020, enabled legislative amendments in July 2020 and the conduct of the vote in Mostar on 20 December 2020.[39][40]
Mostar has architecturally noteworthy buildings in a wide range of styles.Historicist architectural styles reflectedcosmopolitan interest and exposure to foreign aesthetic trends and were artfully merged with indigenous styles.[41] Examples include the Italianate Franciscan church, the OttomanMuslibegovića house, the DalmatianĆorović House and anOrthodox church which was built as gift from the Sultan.
The Ottomans used monumental architecture to affirm, extend and consolidate their colonial holdings. Administrators and bureaucrats – many of them indigenous people who converted from Christianity toIslam – foundedmosque complexes that generally includedKoranic schools, soup kitchens or markets.[23]
Out of the thirteen original mosques dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, seven have been lost during the 20th century for ideological reasons or by bombardment. One of the two 19th-century Orthodox churches has also disappeared, while the early 20th-centurysynagogue, after suffering severe damage in theWorld War II, has been converted into a theatre. Several Ottoman inns also survived, along with other buildings from this period of Mostar's history, such as fountains and schools.[10]
The majority of administrative buildings are from the Austro-Hungarian period and haveneoclassical andSecessionist characteristics. A number of surviving late Ottoman houses demonstrate the component features of this form of domestic architecture – upper storey for residential use, hall, paved courtyard, and veranda on one or two storeys. The later 19th-century residential houses are predominantly in neoclassical style.[10]
A number of early trading and craft buildings still exist, notably some low shops in wood or stone, stone storehouses, and a group of former tanneries round an open courtyard. Once again, the 19th-century commercial buildings are predominantly neoclassical. A number of elements of the early fortifications are visible, namely the Hercegusa Tower dating from the medieval period. By contrast, the Ottoman defence edifices are represented by the Halebinovka and Tara Towers – the watchtowers on the ends of the Old Bridge, and a stretch of the ramparts.[10]
The oldest single arch stone bridge in Mostar, theKriva Cuprija ("Sloping Bridge"), was built in 1558 by the Ottoman architect Cejvan Kethoda. It is said that this was to be a test before the major construction of the Stari Most began. The Old Bridge was completed in 1566 and was hailed as one of the greatest architectural achievements in the Ottoman [Balkans]]. The single-arch stone bridge is an exact replica of the original bridge that stood for over 400 years and that was designed by Hajrudin, a student of the great Ottoman architect Sinan. It spans 28.7 m (94 ft) of the Neretva river, 21 m (69 ft) above the summer water level. The Halebija and Tara towers have always housed the guardians of the bridge and during Ottoman times were also used as storehouses for ammunition. The arch is a perfect semicircle 8.56 m (28.1 ft) in width and 4.15 m (13.6 ft) in height. The frontage and vault are made of regular stone cubes incorporated into the horizontal layers all along the vault. The space between vault, frontal walls and footpath is filled with cracked stone. The bridge footpath and the approaching roads are paved with cobblestones, as are the main roads in the town. Stone steps enable people to ascend to the bridge from either side. During the armed conflict between Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in the Bosnian War in the 1990s, thebridge was destroyed by the HVO (Croatian Defence Council).[42]
The Cejvan Cehaj Mosque, built in 1552, is the oldest mosque in Mostar. Later amadrasa (Islamic school) was built on the same compound. The Old Bazaar, Kujundziluk, is named after the goldsmiths who traditionally created and sold their wares on this street, and still sells authentic paintings and copper or bronze carvings of the Stari Most, pomegranates (the natural symbol of Herzegovina), or thestećaks (medieval tombstones).
The Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque, built in 1617, is open to visitors. Visitors may enter the mosque and take photos free of charge. Theminaret is also open to the public and is accessible from inside the mosque. Just around the corner from the mosque is the Tepa Market. This has been a busy marketplace since Ottoman times. It now sells mostly fresh produce grown in Herzegovina and, when in season, the figs and pomegranates are extremely popular. Local honey is also a prominent specialty, being produced all around Herzegovina.
MagazineMost, along withŠantić's Poetry Evenings, was most important outlet for cultural and artistic production in the city and the region, offering space for upstart poets and writers.[43][44]Dani Matice Hrvatske is one of city's significant cultural events and it is commonly sponsored by theCroatian Government and theGovernment of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar Summer is another umbrella event which includes Šantić Poetry Evenings, Mostar Summer Festival and Festival of Bosnia and Herzegovina choirs/ensembles. The city is a home of music festival namedMelodije Mostara (Mostar Melodies), which has been held annually since 1995. Theatre festivals includeMostarska Liska (organized by theNational Theatre Mostar) and The Mostar Spring (organized by theMatica hrvatska Mostar).[45][46]
Mostar's economy relies heavily on thealuminium & metal industry, banking services & thetelecommunication sector.[citation needed] The city is home of some of the country's largest corporations.
Along withSarajevo &Banja Luka, it is the largest financial center in Bosnia & Herzegovina. One of three largest banks in the country has its headquarters in Mostar.[49][50] Bosnia & Herzegovina has three national electric, postal & telecommunication service corporations; the seat of one per each group is placed in Mostar (electric utility providerElektroprivreda HZHB, postal service companyHrvatska pošta Mostar &HT Eronet, the third largest telecommunication company in the country). These three companies (along with banks & aluminium factory) make a vast portion of overall economic activity in the city.[citation needed]
Prior to the 1992–1995Bosnian War, Mostar relied on other important companies which had been closed, damaged or downsized. They includedSOKO (military aircraft factory) & Hepok (food industry). In 1981, Mostar's GDP per capita was 103% of the Yugoslav average.[51]
Aluminum manufacturing companyAluminij Industries is the sole remaining large company that was prominent during the former Yugoslavia. It is one of the country's largest exporter companies & it has a number of international partners. It is one of the most influential companies in the region as well. The city of Mostar alone has direct income of €40 million annually from Aluminij.[citation needed]
Considering the fact that three dams are situated on the city of Mostar's territory, the city has a solid base for further development of production. There is also an ongoing project for the possible use of wind power & building of windmills. The private sector has seen a notable increase in small & medium enterprises over the past couple of years contributing to the positive business climate.[citation needed]
Its population consists of the following ethnic groups:Croats (48.4%);Bosniaks (44.1%) andSerbs (4.1%). The city of Mostar has the largest population of Croats in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As in many other cities, its demographic profile was significantly altered after the Bosnian War.
According to the official data of the local elections of 2008, among six city election districts, three western ones (Croat-majority) had 53,917 registered voters, and those three on the east (Bosniak-majority) had 34,712 voters.[54]
The ethnic composition of the city of Mostar, per indicated census years:
Mostar, andHerzegovina area in general, experience a modifiedhumid subtropical climate (Cfa) under theKöppen Climate Classification, with cold, humid winters and hot, drier summers.[62] In the summer months, occasional temperatures above 40 °C (104 °F) are not uncommon. In 1901, a temperature of 46.2 °C (115.2 °F) was measured in the city, which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[63][64] The coldest month is January, averaging about 5 °C (41 °F), and the warmest month is July, averaging about 26 °C (78 °F). The sunniest months are between June and September. The remainder of the year is wet and mild.[65] Mostar is the sunniest city in the country with an average of 2291 solar hours a year.[66] Snow is relatively rare, and it usually melts within a few hours or days.
During the2012 European cold wave, Mostar experienced unusually cold weather with freezing temperatures lasting for days and a record snow depth of 82.5 cm (32 in).[67]
Climate data for Mostar (1981–2010, extremes 1949–present)
International reconstruction efforts aimed at the reunification of the divided city. The February 1996 Mostar Agreement led to the adoption of the Interim Statute of the city the same month and to a 1-year period of EU Administration of Mostar (EUAM), headed by formerBremen mayorHans Koschnick, till early 1997.[38]
The Interim Statute introduced a Yugoslav-style two-level of administration, with a City level with its own council and mayor (with two deputies) and six municipalities, each with its own administration and council, reflecting the wartime division: three in the Croat-majority West Mostar, and three in the Bosniak-majority East Mostar. A tiny "Central Zone" strip (not a municipality) was to host the rebuilt institutions of the city and, according to the original plans, also of theFederation entity.Mostar citizens would cast three votes: the first two for the City council's 48 members (half from a city-wide lift and half from candidates in each municipality, 4 each), and the third to elect the members of the councils of the six municipalities. Ethnic quotas and veto rights were to prevent any domination.[24]: 4
After six years of implementation, in 2003OHRPaddy Ashdown established an "international commission for reforming Mostar", whose final report noted how the HDZ/SDA power-sharing in Mostar had entrenched division and corruption, with "rampant parallelism" in administrative structures and usurpation of power by the municipalities over the City.[24]: 5 The Mostar Commission, headed by another former German mayor,Norbert Winterstein, gathered members of all Mostar parties with the overarching aim of reuniting the city. A new Statute was negotiated, although few points of contention remained. Finally, in February 2004OHRPaddy Ashdown imposed via its Bonn Powers the new City Statute and related amendments to the BiH Election Law and cantonal and Federation Constitutions. The 2004 Statute abolished the six municipalities and created a unified City administration with a single budget and one Mayor of Mostar, with no deputies. Ethnic quotas in the City council were replaced by minimum/maximum thresholds; 17 councillors would now be elected from a city-wide list, and 18 from the territories of the six former municipalities, now "city areas", which retained a single residual competence on "the distribution of revenues deriving from allocated construction land", managed by city area "commissions" formed by the 3 city councillors elected in each one. The "central zone" remained outside any city area, and its residents were only entitled to vote for the city-wide list.[24]: 6
According to the City Statute, imposed byHigh RepresentativePaddy Ashdown on 28 January 2004 after local politicians failed to reach an agreement, the mayor of Mostar has to be elected by the city council with a two-thirds majority.[71][72] Ashdown abolished the six municipalities that were divided equally among Bosniaks and Croats and replaced them with six electoral units,[73] ridding Mostar of duplicate institutions and costs.[74] In the process Ashdown also reduced the number of elected officials from 194 to 35.[73] According to the City Statute, the constituent peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs) are guaranteed a minimum of four seats and a maximum of 15 seats.[73] 18 councillors are elected by election units (3 councillors from each of the 6 districts) and 15 councillors from a city-wide list.[72] This move was opposed by theParty of Democratic Action (SDA) and theCroatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ BiH).[73]
Relative winners were SDA with the greatest number of votes. However, neither party had enough votes to ensure election of the mayor from their party. The City Council met 16 times without success. Eventually,OHR was involved, and High Representative made some minor changes to the City Statute. After that,Ljubo Bešlić (HDZ BiH) was reelected as a mayor.
Following an appeal byHDZ BiH, in November 2010 theConstitutional Court found the electoral framework for Mostar (2004 Statute) to be discriminatory and unconstitutional.[75] Among other things, the Constitutional Court noted that the votes of Mostar residents did not count the same, as the six electoral zones all elected 3 councillors despite their different population (with the smallest having 4 times fewer residents than the largest); and that the voters from the "central zone" counted less, as they only elected representatives from the city-wide list and not from any of the electoral zones.The Court annulled the relevant provisions of the Election Law of BiH and of the 2004 Statute, and ordered the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Mostar city assembly to revise them within six months.[24]: 6 Yet, the Bosniak and Croat ruling parties did not get to a compromise.
In the absence of a legal basis, local elections could not take place in Mostar in2012 and2016. The mandate of the City council also expired in 2012. Bešlić thus remained as acting mayor for eight additional years, during which he affirmed that he considered resigning multiple times,[76] also due to his deteriorating health.[77] During this time, he shared the administrative duties with Izet Šahović, head of the Mostar City's Finance Department, a bureaucrat and member of theBosniakParty of Democratic Action (SDA). For two full mandates, Bešlić and Šahović have decided together how to disburse Mostar's yearly 30 million euro budget, without any legislative oversight or public transparency. The situation has been denounced by multiple NGOs, which have pointed at the SDA-HDZ power-sharing as the source of the mal-administration of Mostar and the recurrent problems with trash collection, water treatment, and continued ethnic duplication of the city services.[77]
During this period, several rounds of talks were held with international facilitation. Between October 2012 and May 2013 DeputyHigh RepresentativeRoderick W. Moore launched an 8-months mediation effort that produced a compromise framework aimed at merging the city areas (and central zone) into multi-ethnic voting districts. This was endorsed by thePeace Implementation Council's Steering Board (PIC SB). Yet, the proposal found no political support when it was submitted by Moore's successorTamir G. Waser in July 2014 to theBiH Parliament. A second mediation attempt led by US and UK ambassadors to BiH,Maureen Cormack andEdward Ferguson, and based on a model with a single city-wide electoral district, also failed [in 2017]. In 2018, the two main parties HDZ BiH and SDA autonomously negotiated a compromise solution, based only on a formula for the election of the councillors from each city area along the "one man, one vote" principle, which would be later taken up in the June 2020 agreement.[24]: 6
All public schools in Mostar, both elementary and secondary education, are divided between Croat curriculum and Federal (unofficially Bosniak) curriculum schools. This ethnic division of schools was emplaced during the very first year of theBosnian war and it continues, with some modifications, to this day. Today, the schools in Mostar and throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina are a site of struggle between ethno-national political elites[85] in ways that reveals the precarious position of youth in the volatile nation building processes[86] A partial exception to divided education isGimnazija Mostar (also known as "Stara gimnazija") that implemented joint school administration and some joint student courses. However, Croat and Bosniak students in Gimnazija Mostar continue to have most courses according to the “national” curriculum, among them the so-called national subjects – history, literature, geography, and religion.[87]
The country's higher education reform and the signing of theBologna Process have forced both universities to put aside their rivalry to some extent and try to make themselves more competitive on a regional level.[citation needed]
University of Mostar is the second largest university in the country and the only Croatian language university in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded in 1977 as the University "Džemal Bijedić" of Mostar, but changed name in 1992. The origin of the university can be traced back to the Herzegovina Franciscan Theological School, which was founded in 1895 and closed in 1945, was the first higher education institution in Mostar.[88] Today's University seal shows the building of the Franciscan Monastery.
University Džemal Bijedić of Mostar was founded in 1993. It employs around 250 professors and staff members. According to the Federal Office of Statistics, Džemal Bijedić University had 2,522 students enrolled during the 2012/2013 academic year.[89]
As of 2015[update] school year, the University of Mostar had 10,712 students enrolled at eleven faculties making it the largest university in the city.[89]Cumulatively, it has been attended by more than 40,000 students since the start of the Bologna process of education.
One of the most popular sports in Mostar isfootball. The two most successful teams areHŠK Zrinjski andFK Velež. FK Velež won theYugoslav Cup in1981 and in1986, which was one of the most significant accomplishments this club has achieved. Since theBosnian War, each club has generally been supported by a particular ethnic group (Velež for the Bosniaks and Zrinjski for the Croats). The matches between the two clubs are some of the country's most intense matches. Since the start of thePremier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, HŠK Zrinjski has won eight championships.
In 2011,rugby union football clubRK Herceg was founded. The club competes in national leagues within Bosnia & Herzegovina and in the regional league Adria Sevens.
Another popular sport in Mostar isswimming. There are three swimming teams in Mostar: PK Velež, KVS Orka and APK Zrinjski. The best Bosnian-Herzegovinian swimmer,Lana Pudar, is from Mostar. Mostar has plenty of talented swimmers despite having just one 25-meter pool and one 12.5-meter pool.
Mostar is an important tourist destination in Bosnia and Herzegovina. TheMostar International Airport serves the city as well as therailway and bus stations which connect it to a number of national and international destinations. Mostar's old town is an important tourist destination with theStari Most being its most recognizable feature.
Some noteworthy sites includeBishop's Ordinariate building, the remains of an early Christianbasilica atCim, ahamam (Ottoman public bath), clock tower (sahat-kula), Synagogue (1889) and Jewish Memorial Cemetery, Nesuh-aga Vučjaković Mosque, Hadži-Kurt Mosque or Tabačica, Metropolitan's Palace (1908),Karagöz Bey Mosque (1557),Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (1873), Catholic Church and Franciscan Monastery,[91] Ottoman Residences (16th–19th century), Crooked Bridge, Tara and Halebija Towers.[92]
TheWorld War IIPartisan Memorial Cemetery in Mostar, designed by the architectBogdan Bogdanović, is another important symbol of the city. Its sacrosanct quality is derived from the unity of nature (water and greenery) with the architectural expression of the designer; the monument was inscribed on the list of National Monuments in 2006.[93]
^"Mostar: Record mensili dal 1949" (in Italian). Meteorological Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina.Archived from the original on 1 April 2016. Retrieved14 February 2016.
^Laketa, Sunčana (1 January 2015). "Youth as Geopolitical Subjects: The Case of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina". In Kallio, Kirsi; Mills, Sarah; Skelton, Tracey (eds.).Politics, Citizenship and Rights. Geographies of Children and Young People. Springer Singapore. pp. 1–13.doi:10.1007/978-981-4585-94-1_6-1.ISBN9789814585941.
^Sreben Dizdar, Bakaršić Kemal (1996). Leland C. Barrows (ed.).Report on higher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina : historical development, present state, and needs assessment. Bucharest: UNESCO/CEPES. p. 23.ISBN978-9290691419.
.jpg)
