The Old Bridge of Mostar

Stari Most ,"The Old Bridge", is a 16th century bridge in the city ofMostar that crosses the river Neretva and connects two parts of thecity.

The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until the bridge wasdestroyed on November 9, 1993 during the Bosnian War.

After the endof the war, plans were raised to reconstruct the bridge. The WorldBank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the WorldMonuments Fund formed a coalition to oversee the reconstruction of theStari Most and the historic city centre of Mostar. Additional fundingwas provided by Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Croatia and theCouncil of Europe Development Bank, as well as the Bosnian government.In October 1998, UNESCO established an international committee ofexperts to oversee the design and reconstruction work. It was decidedto build a bridge as similar as possible as the original, using thesame technology and materials.

Reconstruction commenced on 7 June2001. The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated on 23 July 2004.