Stari most
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| Stari Most | |
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| Official name | Stari Most |
| Carries | Pedestrians |
| Crosses | Neretva |
| Locale | Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Design | Arch |
| Total length | 29 meters |
| Width | 4 meters |
| Clearance below | 20 meters at mid-span |
| Opening date | 1566/1567/2004 |
Stari Most (English translation: "The Old Bridge") is a 16th century bridge in the city of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina that crosses the river Neretva and connects two parts of the city. The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until the bridge was destroyed on November 9, 1993 during the Bosnian War.[1] Slobodan Praljak, the commander of the Croatian Defence Council, is currently on trial at the ICTY for ordering the destruction of the bridge, among other charges.[2] Consequently, a project was set in motion to rebuild it, and the new bridge opened on July 23, 2004.
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[edit] Location
The bridge spans the Neretva river in the old town of Mostar, the city to which it gave the name. The city is the fourth-largest in the country; it is the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the unofficial capital of Herzegovina.
| Old Bridge Area of the Old City of Mostar* | |
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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| State Party |  Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Type | Cultural |
| Criteria | vi |
| Reference | 946 |
| Region** | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2005 (29th Session) |
| * Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. |
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[edit] Characteristics
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 Helebija tower on the northeast and the Tara tower on the southwest, called "the bridge keepers" (natively mostari).
The arch of the bridge was made of local stone known as tenelija. The shape of the arch is the result of numerous irregularities produced by the deformation of the intrados (the inner line of the arch). The most accurate description would be that it is a circle of which the centre is depressed in relation to the string course.
Instead of foundations, the bridge has abutments of limestone 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 emphasized by a molding 0.32 metres (1 ft 1 in) in height. The rise of the arch is 12.02 metres (39 ft 5 in).
[edit] History
[edit] Construction
The existing bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 to replace an older wooden suspension bridge of dubious stability. Construction began in 1557 and took nine years: according to the inscription the bridge was completed in 974 AH, corresponding to the period between July 19, 1566 and July 7, 1567. Little is known of the building of the bridge, and all that has been preserved in writing are memories and legends and the name of the builder, Mimar Hayruddin (student of the Old/Great Sinan (Mimar Sinan / Koca Sinan), the Ottoman architect). Charged under pain of death to construct a bridge of such unprecedented dimensions, the architect reportedly prepared for his own funeral on the day the scaffolding was finally removed from the completed structure. Upon its completion it was the widest man-made arch in the world. Certain associated technical issues remain a mystery: how the scaffolding was erected, how the stone was transported from one bank to the other, how the scaffolding remained sound during the long building period. As a result, this bridge can be classed among the greatest architectural works of its time.
[edit] Destruction
In 1992, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the parapet of the Old Bridge had been pierced by an artillery projectile at a point very close to the approach on the right bank of the Neretva on the downstream side. After the Croatians started their attacks in Herzegovina, HVO artillery, under control of Bosnian Croat troops, destroyed the bridge to erase any sign of Ottoman architecture in Bosnia. On 9 November 1993 the bridge was completely destroyed, falling into the Neretva, following sustained artillery attacks from Cekrk and other surrounding hills.
[edit] Reconstruction
After the end of the war, plans were raised to reconstruct the bridge as a symbol of peace and ethnic harmony, literally bridging the two sides of the divided city. The World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the World Monuments Fund formed a coalition to oversee the reconstruction of the Stari Most and the historic city centre of Mostar.[3] Additional funding was provided by Italy, the Netherlands, Croatia and the Council of Europe Development Bank, as well as the Bosnian government.[3] In October 1998, UNESCO established an international committee of experts to oversee the design and reconstruction work.[3] It was decided to build a bridge as similar as possible as the original, using the same technology and materials.[3] The bridge was built with local materials. Tenelia stone from local quarries was used and Hungarian army divers recovered stone from the original bridge from the river below.[3] Reconstruction commenced on 7 June 2001. The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated on 23 July 2004.[3]
Suha Ozkan,(1994) in "The Destruction of Stari Most"[4], states:
"On the morning of November 9, 1993, the first shell hit the leg of Stari Most bridge in Mostar. Shelling of this same sport continued with chilling accuracy, one shell after another, as if attackers had finally found an historical opportunity for destruction. After several hits, the pediment was smashed, and the elegant, arched backbone of the bridge collapsed into the water with a tragic splash, as if the Neretva River was shedding tears for the millions of people who had now lost a cherished piece of memory. For them the Stari Most Bridge was as significant as the nave of Hagia Sophia, or the top of the Empire State Building, the approach to the Taj Mahal or the heights of Machu Picchu; its presence surpassed any function.
It took [the architect] and his workers nine years, from 1557 to 1566, to build the bridge which was destroyed in perhaps less than thirty minutes."
[edit] Diving
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 very risky feat and only the most skilled and best trained divers will attempt it. The practice dates back to the time the bridge was built, but the first recorded instance of someone diving off the bridge is from 1664. 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, a local who now resides in the United States.[5]
[edit] In popular culture
- Smrt Gospodina Goluže - movie by Živko Nikolić
[edit] See also
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stari Most |
[edit] External links
- National Monuments - Muslibegovica House
- Rehabilitation Design of the Old Bridge of Mostar
- Bosnia and Herzegovina Commission for Preservation of National Monuments - The Stari Most
- Before, during and after destruction, pictures taken by Belgian photographer Laurent Van der Stockt - Time magazine
- Live webcams from Stari most and the Old town. (mirror)
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/jul/24/iantraynor
- ^ "ICTY: Prlić et al. (IT-04-74)". http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/prl-ii040304e.htm.
- ^ a b c d e f Armaly, Maha; Blasi, Carlo; Hannah, Lawrence (2004). "Stari Most: rebuilding more than a historic bridge in Mostar". Museum International 56 (4): 6-17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0033.2004.00044.x.
- ^ Template:Suha Ozkan, "The Destruction of the Stari Most",Development Network 14 (Spring 1994):5-7"
- ^ http://www.pluska.sk/showdoc.do?docid=12602&showRate=true
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Coordinates: 43°20′53″N 17°48′39″E / 43.34806°N 17.81083°E
