HHG » Europe » Bosnia and Herzegovina

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Banja Luka	Mostar	Neum
Sarajevo	Siroki Brijeg

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Mostar is the principal city of Herzegovina. Straddling both banks of the Neretva River, the name comes from its famous old bridge -- the ‘Stari Most’ -- generally held to be a masterpiece of 16th Century Ottoman engineering. This pride of all Mostar, designed by the famous architect Hajrudin, opened in 1566 and remained the favorite object of local artists. Children would terrify tourists by jumping from the bridge into the cold, mountain waters below for a few coins. The city that grew around the old bridge became a commercial and cultural center favored by Muslims, Croats and Serbs alike. In return the old city embraced them all: their homes, their schools, their places of business. The city also embraced their places of worship and their graveyards. For generations the bridge had symbolized a Bosnia that included Muslims, Jews, Croatian Catholics, and Serbian Orthodox.