Stari most

Old bridge and old town of Mostar
UNESCO world heritage
The Old Bridge (2006) after its reconstruction between 1995 and 2004
National territory:	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Type:	Culture
Criteria :	(iv)
Surface:	7.6 ha
Reference No .:	946
UNESCO region :	Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment:	2005  (session 29)

Coordinates: 43 ° 20 ′ 13.6 ″  N , 17 ° 48 ′ 55 ″  E

Stari most​

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Stari most ( Serbo-Croatian / Bosnian : German  Old Bridge ) is the eponymous landmark of the city of Mostar in Bosnia-Herzegovina . The bridge spans the Neretva a little above the mouth of the Radobolja and connects the more Bosniak-influenced eastern part with the more Croatian western part of the city. With a clear width of 28.7 meters and 19 meters high (at the apex above the Neretva), it was a masterpiece of engineering when it was built in the 16th century.

Stari most as a coat of arms of Mostar

The bridge has been considered the symbolic bridge between East and West for centuries , not only between the world of Christianity and the Islamic world, but also between the Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs . She appears as a formative figure on Mostar's coat of arms. The bridge was destroyed in the Bosnian War in 1993 and then rebuilt.

history

construction

Stari most, 1913.

Stari most, around 1930.

Stari most, August 1974.

The Kriva Ćuprija, 2011.

The bridge was built from 1556 to 1566 by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayreddin on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan Süleyman I as a single arch bridge . He was a student of the most important Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan . According to an unproven legend, Hajrudin tested the new concept of bridge construction on a smaller scale before building the actual bridge known today as the “Stari Most” . For this purpose, an identical miniature was erected near the actual location , which still exists today. Until then, the architect had only become known for building mosques. This miniature is called Kriva Ćuprija and spans the Radobolja river .

destruction

During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina , the bridge was damaged on November 8, 1993 and destroyed on November 9 at around 10 a.m. after several hours of bombardment.

According to the prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Prlic et al. the bridge was deliberately destroyed by the Croatian Defense Council .

An investigation by three Croatian scientists (Muhamed Sućeska et al., January 2006), on the other hand, came to the conclusion that the bridge was exposed as evidence of the defense in the trial against Slobodan Praljak of two amateur film recordings that document the start of the collapse and were Probability after the bombardment and the associated severe damage by an explosive charge attached to the bridge (deep in the eastern arch) was blown up and effectively brought down. Because for tenths of a second at the same time as a brown cloud at one point of the inside of the arch, a 30-50 m long column of water near the eastern bank jumps up to the bridge, which is the result of a detonating cord lying in the shallow water as an ignition cable and the explosion of an explosive charge on the bridge arch is interpreted itself.

In May 2013, the criminal court sentenced six persons responsible from the Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna to long prison terms for serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also for the destruction of the bridge:

• Jadranko Prlić , Prime Minister of the Republic of Herceg-Bosna, for 25 years
• Bruno Stojić , its defense minister, for 20 years
• Slobodan Praljak , former general, for 20 years
• Milivoj Petković , former general, for 20 years
• Valentin Ćorić , commander of the Bosnian-Croatian military police, aged 16
• Berislav Pušić , former officer, for 10 years

Praljak committed on 29 November 2017 The Hague suicide after being in the appeal process was again sentenced to 20 years imprisonment and his conviction had criticized. The judgments against his co-defendants were also confirmed in the second instance.

reconstruction

After the end of the Bosnian War, a temporary bridge in the form of a wire rope suspension structure was built. It remained in place until the original reconstruction of the Stari Most bridge actually began . This began in 1995 with the support of UNESCO , the World Bank and Turkey . It cost about 15 million euros. The Turkish company ER-BU took over the reconstruction of the bridge. As far as (a few) still existed and usable, the old stones were reused and missing ones from the same quarry as in 1566 were replaced. A total of 1088 stone blocks are now said to have been built. The construction of the arch began in the summer of 2002; the official reopening of the bridge took place on July 23, 2004 in the presence of representatives from 60 countries. In the past, the limestone blocks were connected with steel brackets , but now stainless steel has been used for the same (hidden) connection technology. Then as now, the metal rods were poured into the holes drilled in the rock with lead . The builder of the first bridge had destroyed the plans.

• 

  Temporary Bridge (1998)

• 

  Bridge fragments recovered from the Neretva lie on a pedestal to dry (1998)

• 

  The old bridge at the official reopening on July 23, 2004

World Heritage

See also : World Heritage in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Not only because of its architectural uniqueness, but also because of the great symbolic power of the bridge, the building and its historical surroundings were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 15, 2005 , making them the first World Heritage Site in Bosnia-Herzegovina. UNESCO recognized the bridge as a "symbol of reconciliation and international cooperation [...] and [...] a symbol for the coexistence of different religious, cultural and ethnic communities". It is also a protected cultural asset under the Hague Convention .

Due to the reconstruction and the addition of additional floors to the neighboring Hotel Ruza , its status as a World Heritage Site was questioned by UNESCO. At a special conference held in Sarajevo at the end of January 2008 , Bosnian officials announced that the top floor of the hotel would be dismantled in order to save the title.

construction

Aerial view of part of the old town, in the foreground the Stari most bridge , in the background its smaller image Kriva Ćuprija

The arch with the shape of an ellipse and a small kink in the apex has a clear width of 28.7 meters and an arrow height of 12.0 meters. At the top the thickness was 0.77 meters with a building width of 4.0 meters. Two cavities in the arch reduced the weight of the bridge and made the slender arch construction possible. The arch ends in supporting pillars made of limestone , which are connected to the bank walls by wing masonry , creating a monolithic impression.

During the reconstruction, the stone blocks of the bridge were connected by staples made of stainless steel, 10 cm long, which were fixed by pouring lead into the stone. This technique of connecting the stones with iron dowels and fixing them by pouring them in with lead had already been used by the then architect Mimar Hajrudin and should therefore also be used for the reconstruction.

Legend

Hajrudin had never seen the completed bridge. According to old legends, Hajrudin's head was cut off as punishment after the bridge collapsed. The bridge had already fallen into the river twice before, which is why the population said: “The river cannot be crossed.” Hajrudin retired not far from the city of Mostar, to the Bijelo Polje (White Field) area , and waited for his news Emissaries who supervised the dismantling of the scaffolding. After the news was brought to him that everything was in order with the bridge, he rode over the Velež massif towards Turkey. During the trip he got jaundice and died of the disease in Jedrenè (in today's Bulgaria).

According to another legend, unwashed sheep's wool, egg white and honey were used as binding agents (mortar) for the construction of the bridge, which is why egg consumption was absolutely forbidden in the entire area. Allegedly 300,000 eggs were used.

Jumping bridges

Professional bridge jumper from "Divers Club Mostar" (2009)

22-year-old jumps on June 5, 2009, series shot

There is a tradition among the young men of the city to jump 20 m high from the railing wall of the bridge into the 13 ° C cold Neretva, nowadays after payment by tourists. City legend Alija "Ale" Ajanić , also known as “champion” (Croatian: champion) on the street, jumped for the first time at the age of 13, won the jumping competition 7 times and jumped at least until the age of 50. Some jumpers broke bones and sometimes death. Since the Neretva is very cold and the bridge is quite high, this requires courage and an appropriate level of fitness. The custom is said to go back to the time of edification; the first record of a jump is from the year 1664. A competition has been held since 1986 at the end of July, participants must be at least 18 years old. After the bridge was destroyed in 1993, an assembled board jumped. Emir Balić (* 1934 or 1935) jumped from the bridge more than a thousand times - most recently at the age of 61 - and won thirteen times. In 2015, 53 participants were registered, but two decided not to jump on the bridge. The jump is the foot jump or the "swallow" (Bosnian: "lasta"), a head jump with arms spread out to the side at the beginning.

literature

• Martin Coward: Urbicide: the Politics of Urban Destruction , Routledge, New York 2008, pp. 1-7, ISBN 978-0-415-46131-3 .
• Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper : Mostar. Un pont suspendu dans l'histoire. In: Les cahiers de science et vie. No. 91, février 2006 (special issue: Sept merveilles pour faire un monde) 2006, pp. 100-103. ISSN  1157-4887
• Gorazd Humar: Beauty and construction of the destroyed Old Bridge over the Neretva in Mostar (1566–1993) . In: Concrete and reinforced concrete construction 91 . Year 1996, Issue 1, pp. 18-20.
• Hans Koschnick , Jens Schneider: Bridge over the Neretva. The reconstruction of Mostar . dtv 30496, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-30496-0 .
• Léon Pressouyre: Le pont de Mostar aléas et limites d'une reconstruction "à l'identique". In: Bulletin archéologique du Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques / Archéologie, histoire de l'art, époques médiévale et moderne (Paris: Ed. Du CTHS). NS 34 2008, pp. 187-198. ISSN  1286-0999 .
• Léon Pressouyre: Merveilles médiévales. In: Les cahiers de science et vie. No. 91 (special issue: Sept merveilles pour faire un monde ) 2006, pp. 78–81. ISSN  1157-4887 .
• UNESCO World Heritage Center: Decision - 29COM 8B.49 - Nominations of Cultural Properties to the World Heritage List: The Old Bridge area of ​​the Old City of Mostar .

Web links

Commons : Stari most  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Detailed technical description of the Italian general contractor for the reconstruction of the bridge (English)
• Extensive documentation including a photo gallery of the Center for Peace (Centar za mir) on the reconstruction of the bridge (Bosnian)
• Mostar Bridge - Treasures of the World - SWR Documentary Series
• Jerrilynn D. Dodds: Hearts and Stones . Articles in Saudi Aramco World (English)
• Stari most article, link list, bibliography on archnet.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SPECIJALNI IZVJEŠTAJ o izgledu, upotrebi i zaštiti državnih, odnosno službenih obilježja u Bosni i Hercegovini. In: ombudsmen.gov.ba. Retrieved July 23, 2020 . 
2. ↑ indictment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia , March 2, 2004 (counts 116 and 118)
3. ↑ Mostar Bridge . Page for a television documentary by ZDF (2003) ( Memento of the original from March 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ Analysis of the bridge destruction ( memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 10.9 MB) 
5. ^ UN tribunal sentenced six Bosnian Croats , Deutsche Welle , May 29, 2013
6. ↑ War criminal Praljak dead after ingesting poison. Spiegel online from November 29, 2017
7. ^ Poison death in The Hague - Convicted Slobodan Praljak died. Die Welt from November 29, 2017
8. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ Report by the ARD Tagesschau (tagesschau.de archive)
10. ^ Report of the SF Tagesschau
11. ↑ Stari Most - reconstruction of the historical bridge. (PDF; 365 kB; p. 4, 6) (No longer available online.) Six4.bauverlag.de, May 2002, archived from the original on June 11, 2016 ; accessed on June 11, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.   
12. ↑ Elly Ajanić (daughter or son of Alija Ajanić), Amar Rajković: Mostar - Jump into Freedom . In: biber , Austria, February 2011, new publication March 4, 2015.
13. ^ Peter Münch: Neue Sprünge vom Regenbogen sueddeutsche.de, May 19, 2010, accessed December 15, 2018.
14. ↑ Bridge jumpers - the swallows from Mostar ard-wien.de, July 29, 2015, accessed December 15, 2018. - 20 m jump height.