The bridge spans the Neretva River in the old town of Mostar, the unofficial capital ofHerzegovina. The Stari Most is hump-backed, 4 metres (13 ft 1 in) wide and 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) long, and dominates the river from a height of 24 m (78 ft 9 in). Two fortified towers protect it: the Halebija tower on the northeast and the Tara tower on the southwest, called "the bridge keepers" (nativelymostari).[2]
Instead of foundations, the bridge hasabutments oflimestone linked to wing walls along the waterside cliffs. Measuring from the summer water level of 40.05 m (131 ft 5 in), abutments are erected to a height of 6.53 metres (21 ft 5 in), from which the arch springs to its high point. The start of the arch is emphasised by amoulding 0.32 metres (1 ft 1 in) in height. The rise of the arch is 12.02 metres (39 ft 5 in).[2]
As Mostar's economic and administrative importance grew with the growing presence ofOttoman rule, the precarious wooden suspension bridge over theNeretva gorge required replacement. The old bridge on the river "...was made of wood and hung on chains," wrote the Ottoman geographerKatip Çelebi, and it "...swayed so much that people crossing it did so in mortal fear".[citation needed] In 1566, Mimar Hayruddin designed the replacement bridge, which was said to have cost 300,000 Drams (silver coins) to build. The two-year construction project was supervised by Karagoz Mehmet Bey, Sultan Suleiman's son-in-law and the patron of Mostar's most important mosque complex, the Hadzi Mehmed Karadzozbeg Mosque.[citation needed]
Construction began in 1557 and took nine years: according to the inscription, the bridge was completed in 974AH, corresponding to the period between 19 July 1566[7] and 7 July 1567. Little is known of the construction of the bridge, thought to have been made from mortar made with egg whites,[8] and all that has been preserved in writing are memories and legends and the name of the builder, Mimar Hayruddin. Charged under pain of death to construct a bridge of such unprecedented dimensions, Hayruddin reportedly prepared for his funeral on the day the scaffolding was finally removed from the completed structure. Upon its completion, it was the widest human-made arch in the world.[9][citation needed]
The 17th Century Ottoman explorerEvliya Çelebi wrote that the bridge "is like a rainbow arch soaring up to the skies, extending from one cliff to the other... I, a poor and miserable slave 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."[10]
The first temporary bridge on the traces of the Old Bridge was opened on 30 December 1993; it was built in only three days bySpanish military engineers assigned to theUnited Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) mission.[14][15][16] The temporary structure was subsequently upgraded three times, to eventually link the shores with a more securecable-stayed bridge until the proper reconstruction of the Old Bridge.[17][16]
Newspapers based inSarajevo reported that more than 60 shells hit the bridge before it collapsed.[18] Praljak published a document, "How the Old Bridge Was Destroyed", where he argues that there was an explosive charge or mine placed at the centre of the bridge underneath and detonated remotely, in addition to the shelling, which caused the collapse. Most historians dismiss these claims and disagree with their conclusions.[19]
Some scholars assessed that the bridge had little military significance and that the shelling of the old town centre represented a deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, particularly the Old Bridge, which symbolized the connection of different communities.[20]András Riedlmayer described the demolition as an act of “killing memory,” or memoricide, in which shared cultural heritage was intentionally destroyed.[21]
Croatian media reported claims that the bridge was destroyed by units of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH),[22][23] primarily referencing materials published by Slobodan Praljak on his personal website, where he presented analyses based on available video recordings of the demolition. They also published conspiracy theories about Bosniak units destroying the bridge in order to blame the Croats for the destruction.[24][25]
On 6 April 2023, a video was released showing footage recorded from Hum Hill, which continuously follows the trajectories of more than 50 projectiles fired by a tank of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO).[26][27]
The bridge was re-built in two phases: the first one being led byHungarian army engineers, consisting of the lifting of submerged material for its repurpose; and the second one being the removal of the temporary bridge, a task assigned to Spanish army engineers, and the reconstruction of the Old Bridge with Ottoman construction techniques by a partnership of civil engineering companies led by the Turkish Er-Bu.[29][30][31] Tenelia, a fine-grained limestone, sourced from local quarries was used and Hungarian army divers recovered stones from the original bridge from the river below, although most were too damaged to reuse.[28][32][29]
Reconstruction commenced on 7 June 2001. The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated on 23 July 2004, with the cost estimated to be 15.5 million US dollars.[28][2][14]
Stari Most diving is a traditional annual competition indiving, which is organised every year in midsummer (end of July). It is traditional for the town's young men to leap from the bridge into the Neretva. As the Neretva is very cold, this is a risky feat and requires skill and training,[33] though according to TripAdvisor, tourists do dive as well.[34] In 1968 a formal diving competition was inaugurated and held every summer. The first person to jump from the bridge since it was reopened was Enej Kelecija.[35]
^Jezernik, Božidar (1995). "Qudret Kemeri: A Bridge between Barbarity and Civilization".The Slavonic and East European Review.73 (95):470–484.JSTOR4211861.
^Molina, Jorge (4 November 2012)."Un puente para la paz"(mp4) (Documentary) (in Spanish). 31:41.Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – viaYouTube.
^abTaylor, David; Hannoun, Lionel; Molland, Halvor; Lehmann, Cristophe; Guner, Ender (7 May 2003)."The Old Mostar Bridge Project".SFOR Informer. 18, 19, 20, 23, 67.NATO.Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved22 November 2020.
1with Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia 2with Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Ukraine
