Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
in stone for the way the diverse faiths and cultures here were able to bridge the gaps that
divided them.
All of that drastically changed in the early 1990s. Beginning in May of 1993, as the city
became engulfed in war, the Old Bridge frequently got caught in the crossfire. Old tires
were slung over its sides to absorb some of the impact from nearby artillery and shrapnel.
InNovemberof1993,Croatsbeganshellingthebridgefromthetopofthemountain(where
the cross is now—you can just see its tip peeking over the hill from the top of the bridge).
ThebridgetookseveraldirecthitsonNovember8;onNovember9,anothershellcausedthe
venerableOldBridgetolurch,thentumbleinpiecesintotheriver.Themortarinside,which
containedpinkbauxite,turnedthewaterredasitfellin.Localssaidthattheiroldfriendwas
bleeding.
The decision to destroy the bridge was partly strategic—to cut off a Bosniak-controlled
strip on the west bank from Bosniak forces on the east. (News footage from the time shows
Bosniak soldiers scurrying back and forth over the bridge.) But there can be no doubt that,
like the Yugoslav Army's siege of Dubrovnik, the attack was also partly symbolic: the de-
struction of a bridge representing the city's Muslim legacy.
After the war, city leaders decided to rebuild the Old Bridge. Chunks of the original
bridgeweredredgedupfromtheriver.Butthelimestonehadbeencompromisedbysoaking
in the water for so long, so it couldn't be used (you can still see these pieces of the old Old
Bridge on the riverbank below). Having pledged to rebuild the bridge authentically, restor-
ers cut new stone from the original quarry, and each block was hand-carved. Then they as-
sembled the stones with the same technology used by the Ottomans 450 years ago: Workers
erected wooden scaffolding and fastened the blocks together with iron hooks cast in lead.
The project was overseen by UNESCO and cost over $13 million, funded largely by inter-
national donors.
