The Ottomans conquered Mostar in 1463 and brought Islamic influences and urban growth to the small town straddling the banks of the Nerevta River. Emperor Suleyman the Magnificent ordered a new bridge to be built over the water, a stone structure designed by famed architect Sinan. The bridge, known as the Stari Most, transformed Mostar into a thriving junction between east and west. (...)
The Ottomans conquered Mostar in 1463 and brought Islamic influences and urban growth to the small town straddling the banks of the Nerevta River. Emperor Suleyman the Magnificent ordered a new bridge to be built over the water, a stone structure designed by famed architect Sinan. The bridge, known as the Stari Most, transformed Mostar into a thriving junction between east and west. Nestled in a mountainous region of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mostar retained a certain degree of autonomy from the empire and was characterized by ethnic diversity and religious tolerance. In the centuries that followed, Mostar developed architecturally and culturally under the rule of the Venetians, Austro-Hungarians, and Socialists. The population catapulted from 18,000 to 100,000 between 1945 and 1980, but this growth did not overshadow Mostar’s history. The city received a prestigious award for preservation work from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in 1986. Less than a decade later, Croatian tanks obliterated many of Mostar’s historic buildings and 75 percent of its housing. The Stari Most was among the structures that collapsed, a symbolic defeat of the city’s cultural openness.
