Old Bridge (Stari Most), Mostar
Ottoman single-arch bridge of 1566 over the Neretva, rebuilt in 2004 and a UNESCO site.
Stari Most carries a single stone arch of about twenty-nine metres across the Neretva, linking the two halves of Mostar's old bazaar. It was built for Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and completed in 1566 by Mimar Hayruddin, a pupil of the imperial architect Sinan. The deck rises steeply to a crown roughly twenty metres above the summer water level, paved with ribbed limestone slabs that give footing on the slope. Fortified towers guard each end: Halebija on the west bank and Tara on the east, the latter once used as a powder store.
The bridge was destroyed by shelling on 9 November 1993 during the conflict between Bosnian Croat and Bosniak forces. Reconstruction began in the late 1990s under UNESCO coordination, using stone from the original quarries and Ottoman building techniques, with fragments recovered from the riverbed. The rebuilt bridge opened on 23 July 2004, and in 2005 the Old Bridge area of Mostar was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Tara tower houses a museum on the bridge's construction, destruction and rebuilding.
Highlights
- Single limestone arch of roughly 29 metres, completed in 1566
- Halebija and Tara towers guarding the two bridgeheads
- Old Bridge Museum in the Tara tower with an observation level
- Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005
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