Mostar's reconstructed Old Bridge threatened by new cracks

28/04/2008

Several cracks appear on the Old Bridge in Mostar daily, according to experts hired by the Commission to Preserve the National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

By Jusuf Ramadanovic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo – 28/04/08

The Old Bridge of Mostar. [Jusuf Ramadanovic]

The world-famous Old Bridge of Mostar spans the Neretva River in Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH)'s southeast region. Hayrudin, a Turkish architect, built it from 1557 to 1566 under the order of Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. Legend has it that Hayrudin fled Mostar under a death threat from the sultan, who threatened to hang him if the bridge ever fell apart.

During the BiH conflict in 1993, Croatian artillery bombardments destroyed the Old Bridge. Following its reconstruction in 2004, officials included it on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005. The governments of Turkey and Italy were the main sponsors of the project.

Recent research for the rebuilding project suggests that an earlier bridge existed on the same site, before the arrival of the Ottomans, under the mediaeval Bosnian state.

The arch of the new limestone bridge, almost 29m long and 20m high, bends into a semicircle well known for its elegance. When sunshine splashes over the slender and delicate-looking arch towering over the river, admirers find it difficult to imagine it is made of limestone.

Experts with the Commission to Preserve the National Monuments of BiH discovered that several new cracks appear every day on the rebuilt bridge. The commission's preliminary report says that their causes are unknown and that only daily monitoring can identify them.

"During the three-day visit, the experts noted that new cracks appear each day. It is necessary to determine [their] intensity, speed and placement," says Commission President Azra Hadzimuhamedovic.

"The bridge may be cracking due to seismic activity, shifting of support stones, roadwork nearby or some irregularity in construction aimed at replicating the pre-1993 original," says Hadzimuhamedovic.

Some observers attribute the fissures to a recent earthquake in Herzegovina. "The pattern … could fit this theory but not for certain at this point," said Hadzimuhamedovic.

The Old Bridge symbolises Mostar and attracts numerous tourists. In its long history, the bridge bore many names, such as "the New Bridge", "Sultan Suleiman's Bridge", "the Large Bridge" and, finally, "the Old Bridge". The very name of the city, "Mostar", comes from two Slavic words, most (bridge) and premostiti (to span a river, bridgeable).