The inscription in 2005 of the old city of Mostar and its bridge brought back memories of our trip there in June 1988. We had a pleasant visit and had followed the descent into civil war between 1992-5 and the destruction under cannon fire of much of the city and its famous bridge in Nov 1993 with sorrow. As outsiders we knew about, but could not of course fully understand, the depth of ethnic and religious tensions within Yugoslavia but the place had seemed peaceful and friendly enough when we were there. The city was reasonably interesting and atmospheric to wander around but the real “star” was of course the bridge.

Reconstruction “started” with the lifting of a single stone as early as Sept 1997 but didn’t really get under way until 2001 and the bridge was officially reopened in July 2004. I suppose the rebuilding and the inscription as a WHS are necessary and worthwhile symbols to try to help build Bosnia as a peaceful country but I guess that a common community is going to be harder to build than the bridge!

Els has kindly provided a picture of the bridge in 2004 from a similar angle to mine to enable you to see what sort of reconstruction job has been done on it! It would be interesting also for this site to receive a “first hand” description of what Mostar is like today as a community and whether it too can be/is being reconstructed. Is there anyone reading this from Mostar?