Friday 30 June 2017

The Bridge at Mostar

Mostar, in what is now Bosnia, was famous for its great bridge over the river Neretva, built for the Ottoman Sultan Sulemein the Magnificent in the mid-16th century.
This is a photograph my father took of the bridge 40 years ago:-

Unfortunately the bridge was destroyed by shellfire in November 1993, in the wars that followed the collapse and disintegration of Yugoslavia. A film showing the fall of the bridge can be seen at a local bookshop.
Since then, the bridge was reconstructed and reopened in 2004, and is once again a tourist attraction. I took these pictures this year:-


Although the new bridge manages to resemble the ancient one as far as is possible, somehow it doesn't have the same effect.  

1 comment:

  1. In your Dad's photo the arch's apex is off center, which at first I thought had been a mistake by the original builders. But after looking at it some I don't think so. Anyway the reconstructed arch is close to symmetrical causing a visual difference.
    It's possible I'm being fooled by the angle of the original photograph, but I don't think so.

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