OLD BRIDGE OF THE
CITY MOSTAR IN
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
The historic town of Mostar, spanning a deep valley of the Neretva River, developed in the 15th and 16th centuries as an Ottoman frontier town and during the Austro-Hungarian period in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mostar has long been known for its old Turkish houses and Old Bridge, Stari Most, after which it is named. In the 1990s conflict, however, most of the historic town and the Old Bridge, designed by the renowned architect Sinan, was destroyed. The Old Bridge was recently rebuilt and many of the edifices in the Old Town have been restored or rebuilt with the contribution of an international scientific committee established by UNESCO. The Old Bridge area, with its pre-Ottoman, eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and western European architectural features, is an outstanding example of a multicultural urban settlement. The reconstructed Old Bridge and Old City of Mostar is a symbol of reconciliation, international co-operation and of the coexistence of diverse cultural, ethnic and religious communities.
Settlement
established as an urban structure in the 15th century on the crossing of a
river and a land road was originally located in a valley of the Neretva River,
between Hum Hill and the foot of the Velež Mountain. This relatively small
settlement had two towers around the bridge, which dated 1459, as noted by
written historical sources. The current name, Mostar, was mentioned for the
first time in 1474 and derived from "mostari" - the bridge keepers.
The historic town of Mostar developed in the 15th and 16th centuries as an
Ottoman frontier town and during the short Austro-Hungarian period in the 19th
and 20th centuries. Mostar has been long known for its old Turkish houses and
the Old Bridge – Stari most, an extraordinary technological achievement of
bridge construction. The historic part of Mostar is a result of interaction
between the natural phenomena and human creativity throughout a long historical
period. The essence of centuries-long cultural continuity is represented by the
universal synthesis of life phenomena: the bridge and its fortresses – with the
rich archeological layers from the pre-Ottoman period, religious edifices,
residential zones (mahalas), arable lands, houses, bazaar, its public life in
the streets and water. Architecture here presented a symbol of tolerance: a
shared life of Muslims, Christians and Jews. Mosques, churches, and synagogues
existed side-by-side indicating that in this region, the Roman Catholic Croats
with their Western European culture, the Eastern Orthodox Serbs with their
elements of Byzantine culture, and the Sephardic Jews continued to live together
with the Bosniaks-Muslims for more than four centuries. A specific regional
architecture was thus created and left behind a series of unique architectural
achievements, mostly modest by physical dimensions, but of considerable
importance for the cultural history of its people. The creative process
produced a constant flow of various cultural influences that, like streams
merging into a single river, became more than a mere sum of the individual
contributing elements.
In the 1990
conflict, however, most of the historic town and the Old Bridge, a masterpiece
designed by the famous architect, mimar Hajruddin (according to the design of
his master-teacher, great architect mimar Sinan), were destroyed. The Old
Bridge was rebuilt in 2004 and many of the edifices in the Old Town were
restored or rebuilt with the contribution of the international scientific
committee established by UNESCO.
The Old Bridge Area,
with its pre-Ottoman, Eastern Ottoman, Mediterranean and Western European
architectural features, is an outstanding example of a multicultural urban
settlement. The reconstructed Old Bridge and Old City of Mostar are symbols of
reconciliation, international cooperation and the coexistence of diverse
cultural, ethnic and religious communities.
Criterion (vi): With
the “renaissance” of the Old Bridge and its surroundings, the symbolic power
and meaning of the City of Mostar - as an exceptional and universal symbol of
coexistence of communities from diverse cultural, ethnic and religious
backgrounds - has been reinforced and strengthened, underlining the unlimited
efforts of human solidarity for peace and powerful cooperation in the face of
overwhelming catastrophes.
IntegrityThe inscribed
property encompasses 7.60 ha, with a buffer zone of 48 ha and contains the
elements to convey its Outstanding Universal Value. After the reconstruction
works, the Old Bridge is again a testimonial, in time and space, of the history
of the Old City of Mostar. Reconstruction works of the Old Bridge complex and
its surrounding monumental structures, infrastructure and majority of urban
fabric took into consideration the overall integrity of the place. This was
achieved by following the pre-war appearance and features of the structures to
maintain vertical and horizontal dimensions, forms, scale and materialization –
in other words, the integral expression of the Old City of Mostar. The
exceptional features of the historic urban area of Mostar were presented again
in their interrelation between natural and constructed elements, with the Old
Bridge as a masterpiece of bridge construction.
The elements that
reflect the Outstanding Universal Value of the property are present in situ,
including the intangible ones (especially its symbolic power). Furthermore,
archaeological findings of the older medieval bridges (almost at the same
location of the Old Bridge) point out the strong historical and functional
integrity as well as the ability of architects and town planners to integrate
new development principles and architecture with the earlier medieval era.
The Old City of
Mostar, shaped and defined during the Medieval, Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian
period, preserved its coherence as a whole with recognizable features of the
townscape and legibility in an urban-morphological matrix, without introducing
alterations in the form of new or inappropriately renewed structures.
Authenticity
The reconstruction
of the Old Bridge was based on thorough and detailed, multi-facetted analyses,
relying on high quality documentation. The authenticity of form, use of
authentic materials and techniques are fully recognizable while the
reconstruction has not been hidden at all. Remaining original material has been
exposed in a museum, becoming an inseparable part of the reconstruction. The
reconstruction of the fabric of the bridge should be seen as the background to
the restoration of the intangible dimensions of this property.
At the urban scale,
authenticity is preserved through an integrative rehabilitation of the historic
core by the renovation of physical structures and the introduction of the
appropriate functions. The use of the original volumes, sites and building
materials for each structure preserved the typology and morphology of the
historic fabric. The key features of the city, natural surroundings, and the
urban matrix with the architectural landmarks remain genuine.
Architectural
authenticity is achieved by the application of contemporary theories and
practices, accompanied with extensive research and re-use of original elements
found on the site. Reconstruction remained faithful to the idea and principles
of the original structure, with respect for different historical layers and
previous restoration works.
Protection and
management requirements
Protection measures
are related to the harmonized set of laws for the protection of listed national
monuments, in particular the Law on Implementation of Decisions of the
Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002), the
Law on the Protection and Use of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of
SR Bosnia and Herzegovina (1985) and the Law on Physical Planning and Land Use
at the Level of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2006), accompanied by
other related laws and regulations. In addition, the Historical Urban Area of
Mostar was listed as national monument with boundaries that correspond to the
area of the inscribed property.
In terms of
management, the Management Plan for the Old City of Mostar has been
implemented. This document, composed of four parts (government, finance,
planning and implementation, including the Master Plan 2001) was formulated
with the aim to preserve and protect the Outstanding Universal Value of the
property. The Plan also defines the activities necessary to ensure adequate
management, the sustainable use of the World Heritage property in a way
appropriate to its Outstanding Universal Value, cultural and historical
features, sustainable protection and conservation of cultural values. It also
underlines the property's active role in improving conditions and quality of
life of the local community. A Master Plan was adopted by the Government of the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In operational
terms, the Mostar City Council established the Agency “Stari Grad” (located in
Mostar) responsible for preservation, development, site management and
monitoring. The Agency works in close cooperation with other institutions in
charge of heritage protection (mostly with the Federal Institute for the
Protection of Monuments). The works related to heritage protection are financed
mostly by the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
City of Mostar. The City of Mostar also implements projects related to the
improvement of the city’s infrastructure.
Challenges remain in
effectively ensuring that development pressures do not threaten the conditions
of integrity and the conservation of the property and its buffer zone. To this
effect, heritage protection services need to have the necessary measures in
place to prevent and mitigate potential negative impacts. URI-Global Council
team visited the the historical area on
13th September,2017.
Prof. John Kurakar
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