Mostar is a city located in the southern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians once used to live here in peace until war devastated their city.
History and recent events have taken their toll and reminders are everywhere. Take Mostar’s 400-year-old Turkish-style stone bridge, for example. This bridge used to once be the symbol of Muslim society and a crossroad between Eastern and Western Europe. However, CNN Travel tells how the bridge collapsed as a result of a Croatian attack.
Then, during the 1990s, Mostar became a poster child of the Bosnian war. First, the Croats and Bosniaks forced out the Serbs. Then they turned their guns on each other — staring each other down across a front line that ran through the middle of the city. Across the world, people wept when the pummeled Old Bridge — bombarded by Croat paramilitary artillery shells from the hilltop above — finally collapsed into the river.
Now the bridge has been rebuilt and Mostar is beginning to prosper again. Life has gone back to it’s normal routine. Nevertheless, its recent history still lingers, as the Orlando Sentinel explains.
“And yet, strolling through teeming streets, it’s chilling to think that, just a few years ago, these people — who make me a sandwich, direct me to a computer terminal in the cybercafe, stop for me when I cross the street, show off their paintings, and direct the church choir — were killing each other.”
Photo:© jafsegal
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