You will never see a river as blue as the Neretva. The color of the water seems almost unnatural, like liquified sapphires and emeralds were poured into the river to dye it a rich hue. 

Mostar lies within Herzegovina, the region located roughly in the lower southwest third of the country and the second half of the country’s full name - Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar is famous for its Old Bridge that was constructed during Ottoman rule around 1566. Although architects and workers spent years preparing to build the Old Bridge, the Old Bridge was built within one construction season. 

The Old Bridge is bookended by an Ottoman-style bazaar with vendors selling Turkish tea sets and assorted knickknacks featuring the famous landmark. When a man in a Speedo stands on the edge of the Old Bridge, a mass of tourists leave the bazaar to elbow their way to the front row to catch a glimpse of his 80- foot dive into the river below. 

Even 24 years after the conflict ended, its destruction is still visible in Mostar, more so than other cities in Bosnia. Buildings hollowed by unrelenting shelling stand like skeletons next to newly constructed ones. The abandoned former bank building constructed in the barren style of 1980s communism never fit in with the old-world aesthetic of Mostar even when it was new. During the conflict, snipers targeted civilians from its heights. Now it sticks out as a constant reminder of a time people may rather forget but that continues to have a daily impact on life in Mostar.

On May 9, 1993, the Bosnian Croats launched an attack against the Bosnian Muslims in Mostar. [1] At this point in the conflict, the alliance between Croats and Muslims became adversarial when the two turned against each other for control of Central Bosnia. 

One of the Bosnian Croats’ main objectives was eliminating Bosnian Muslims from west Mostar and forcing them into the eastern side of the city. During the summer of 1993, the Muslim population in east Mostar nearly tripled from 20,000 to 55,000. [2]

From June 1993 through March 1994, East Mostar was subjected to intense shelling from Bosnian Croat artillery and sniper fire aimed at civilians. [3] Water and electricity were cut off to East Mostar early on in the summer of 1993 which left civilians with only two sources of water: water trucks or unpotable water directly from the river. Going out to get water supplies from either source exposed civilians to this constant risk of shelling and sniper fire. [4] 

To avoid sniper fire, civilians were encouraged to go out in public only at night and to walk under passageways covered by blankets where they could not been seen by snipers perched in high buildings. [5] A United Nations civilian police report in September 1993 noted there was “hardly a building or vehicle that had not been damaged by the shelling.” [6] 

Because of electricity shortages, the East Mostar Hospital relied on limited electricity supplied from a generator, and because of the limited supply, some surgical operations had to be performed by candlelight. [7] Patients suffered from lack of sterilization, no painkillers, and a shortage of doctors and medicine. 

The Old Bridge was used by the Bosnian army to deliver military material to the front lines and by civilians to bring food and medical supplies to East Mostar. [8] In part to cut off the Bosnian Army’s ability to supply its military operations, the Bosnian Croat army aimed a tank at the Old Bridge. [9] After 400 years of history, the Old Bridge fell into the waters below after continuous and direct fire on November 8, 1993.  

If you were asked whether the intentional destruction of this ancient bridge met the definition of a war crime for destruction of property not justified by military necessity, most responses would be a gut reaction in the affirmative. The trial chamber at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia agreed and found that the Bosnian Army used the Old Bridge to deliver military supplies, but the damage caused to the civilian population - both by destroying a means of access across the river and the symbolic and cultural value of the Old Bridge to the Muslim civilian population - was found to be disproportionate to the military objective. [10] 

In a surprising turn on appeal, the appeals court reversed the conviction against high-ranking Bosnian Croat officers because the Old Bridge was a military target at the time of the attack and its destruction offered a clear military advantage, thus the Old Bridge’s destruction was justified by military necessity. [11]

The Old Bridge was rebuilt in 2004 as an exact model of the original: it is composed of the same materials as the original down to the consistency of the mortar binding the stones and includes the same imperfections. The bridge and surrounding market area were named UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2005.  

Although Croatian and Muslim children attended school together before the conflict, separate schools were set up in the aftermath. To this day, schools in the Mostar area, as well as other cantons in central Bosnia, are still segregated through a system of “two schools under one roof” in which children of the same age in the same location are divided based on their ethnicity. As of November 2018, 56 schools in 28 locations were still implementing “two schools under one roof.”[12] In August 2014, the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina found that the schools were discriminatory; however, the segregated schools remain.

Travel Tips

• The Old Bridge Museum, located in the tower on the east side of the Old Bridge, is worth seeing for the view at the top of the narrow tower and for the film about the Old Bridge reconstruction process that explains the painstaking care used in rebuilding the Old Bridge to the exact specifications as its predecessor. 

• War Photo Mostar, a photography gallery located in the tower on the west end of the Old Bridge, displays black-and-white photos taken during the peak of the conflict in Mostar that depict day-to-day life. This gallery is highly recommended.