Stari Most
Stari Most | |
---|---|
Coordinates | 43°20′14″N 17°48′54″E / 43.33728°N 17.81503°E |
Carried | Pedestrians |
Crossed | Neretva |
Locale | Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Official name | Stari most |
Heritage status | |
Europe | |
Official name | Old Bridge (Stari Most) in Mostar |
Type | Category 0 cultural property |
Criteria | A, B, C ii.iii.iv., D ii.iv., E i.ii.iii.iv.v., F i.ii.iii., G i.v.vi.vii., H ii., I i.ii.iii. |
Designated | 8 July 2004 (session No. 07.1-02-903/03-29) |
Part of | Mostar, the historic urban site |
Reference no. | 2493 |
List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
Characteristics | |
Design | Arch |
Material | Stone |
Total length | 29 metres (95 ft) |
Width | 4 metres (13 ft) |
No. of spans | 1 |
Clearance below | c. 20 metres (66 ft) at mid-span depending on river water-level |
History | |
Architect | Mimar Hayruddin (concept could originate from Mimar Sinan's idea) |
Constructed by | Mimar Hayruddin, apprentice of Mimar Sinan |
Construction start | 1557 |
Construction end | 1566 |
Opened | 1566 |
Rebuilt | 7 June 2001 – 23 July 2004 |
Destroyed | 9 November 1993 |
Location | |
Stari Most (
The Old Bridge is an exemplary piece of Balkan Islamic architecture. It was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 and designed by Mimar Hayruddin, a student and apprentice of the architect Mimar Sinan.
Characteristics
The bridge spans the Neretva River in the old town of Mostar, the unofficial capital of Herzegovina. 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" (natively mostari).[2]
Instead of foundations, the bridge has
History
The stone single-arch bridge is considered an exemplary piece of Balkan Islamic architecture and was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557. It was designed by Mimar Hayruddin, a student and apprentice of architect Mimar Sinan who built many of the Sultan's key buildings in Istanbul and around the empire.[3][4][5][6]
As Mostar's economic and administrative importance grew with the growing presence of
Construction began in 1557 and took nine years: according to the inscription the bridge was completed in 974
The 17th Century Ottoman explorer Evliya 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."[8]
Destruction
During the
The first temporary bridge on the traces of the Old Bridge was open on 30 December 1993; built in only three days by Spanish military engineers assigned to the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) mission.[12][13][14] The temporary structure was subsequently upgraded three times, to eventually link the shores with a more secure cable-stayed bridge until the proper reconstruction of the Old Bridge.[15][14]
Newspapers based in Sarajevo reported that more than 60 shells hit the bridge before it collapsed.[16] 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.[17]
Reconstruction
After the end of the war, plans were raised to reconstruct the bridge. The
The bridge was re-built in two phases: the first one being led by Hungarian army engineers, consisting in the lifting of submerged material for its repurpose; and the second one being the removal of the temporary bridge, 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.[19][20][21] 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.[18][22][19]
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.[18][2][12]
Diving
Stari Most diving is a traditional annual competition in diving organized every year in mid summer (end of July). It is traditional for the young men of the town to leap from the bridge into the Neretva. As the Neretva is very cold, this is a risky feat and requires skill and training,[23] though according to TripAdvisor, tourists do dive as well.[24] In 1968 a formal diving competition was inaugurated and held every summer. The first person to jump from the bridge since it was re-opened was Enej Kelecija.[25]
Since 2015, Stari Most has been a tour stop in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.[26] In 2019 the diving was featured on Series 2, episode 3 of The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan.[27]
In popular culture
- Turkish rock band Bulutsuzluk Özlemi's 1996 song "Yaşamaya Mecbursun" (lit. 'You have to live') is about the destruction of Stari Most.[28]
See also
- List of bridges in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- List of World Heritage Sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Museum of the Old Bridge
- History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
References
- ^ Centre, UNESCO World Heritage (11 October 2017). "Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar". UNESCO World Heritage Centre (in Latin). Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
- ^ a b c "Old Bridge (Stari Most) in Mostar – Commission to preserve national monuments". old.kons.gov.ba. Commission to preserve national monuments (KONS). 8 July 2004. Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
- ISBN 9783412087920.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 9789958910500.
- ISBN 9780684125824.
- JSTOR 4211861.
- ^ "Croats destroy historic bridge". The Independent. London, UK. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
- ^ "Saudi Aramco World: Hearts and Stones". saudiaramcoworld.com. Archived from the original on 4 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
- ^ a b Hazan, Pierre (11 December 2017). "Was the destruction of Old Mostar bridge a war crime?". Justiceinfo.net. Lausanne. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ^ a b Polšak Palatinuš, Vlatka (29 November 2017). "Presuda šestorci podgrijala vruće pitanje: Kako i zašto je srušen Stari most?". Tportal. Zagreb. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ^ "Na današnji dan prije 29 godina srušen Stari most u Mostaru". BHRT. Sarajevo. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
- ^ a b Tecco, Simon (24 July 2004). "El Viejo Puente de Móstar vuelve a unir orillas y sentimientos". ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ^ Molina, Jorge. "Un puente para la paz" (mp4) (Documentary) (in Spanish). 31:41. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b UNESCO (January 2005). "Nomination Dossier "The Old City of Mostar"" (PDF). whc.unesco.org. p. 30.
- ^ Ravn, Bente (28 May 1997). "Bridge over troubled waters". SFOR Informer Online. NATO. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-415-46131-3.
- ^ "Slobodan Praljak: Defending Himself by Distorting History :: Balkan Insight". www.balkaninsight.com. 4 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
- ^ S2CID 161607816.
- ^ a b Taylor, 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. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ^ "Stari Most". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
- ^ Press Office of La Moncloa (18 October 2010). "Spain begins its final withdrawal from Bosnia after an 18-year mission". Government of Spain. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-316-47380-4. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ "Bosnia's Bridge Divers Risk Their Necks for Tips and Thrills". Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ "Jumping/Diving Mostar Bridge – Old Bridge (Stari Most), Mostar Traveller Reviews". Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ "Chránený klenot" (in Slovak). Pluska. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 4 May 2009.
- ^ "Mostar – Red Bull Cliff Diving". Red Bull Cliff Diving. Archived from the original on 2 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
- ^ "BBC Two – The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan – Episode guide". BBC. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ "Yaşamaya Mecbursun (1996)". www.bulutsuzluk.com (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 30 June 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
External links
- Rehabilitation Design of the Old Bridge of Mostar
- Rehabilitation of Satri Most – casopis-gradjevinar.hr
- Kule Tara i Halebija (XVII vijek) – mostar.ba
- Live webcams from Stari most and the Old town. (mirror)