Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar


Mostar is a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, formerly one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, and today suffering geographical division of ethnic groups.

Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country.

The Mostar Bridge was a very famous and historical bridge before its destruction in 1993 during the war in Bosnia and.

The elegant bridge spanned the River Neretva and was designed by the Ottoman (Turkish) architect Mimar Hayruddin.

The historic town of Mostar, spanning a deep valley of the Neretva River, developed in the 15th and 16th centuries as an Ottoman frontier town and during the Austro-Hungarian period in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Mostar has long been known for its old Turkish houses and Old Bridge, Stari Most, after which it is named. In the 1990s conflict, however, most of the historic town and the Old Bridge, designed by the renowned architect Sinan, was destroyed.

It is a city where a traveler from the north feels the first dashes of Mediterranean air imbued with scents of citrus and sea, and a traveler from the south gets a first glimpse of the continent beyond.

The town has exceptional dwellings and monuments that were assembled harmoniously over the centuries thanks to favorable geographical conditions and a sound economic climate.

Mostar became an important stop for caravans bringing olive oil, fish and linen from Dalmatia to Herzegovina and returning with wool, meat, honey and oats, bound for Dubrovnik and the coast.