m̌ ḫ's photos

Until the Bosnian war of 1992-95, Mostar was probably the most ethnically integrated city in all of former Yugoslavia. But the city became a laboratory for experiments in extreme ethnic engineering. The result is that Mostar mutated into the most divided town in Bosnia, a triumph for the Croatian nationalists who, with their Serbian counterparts, sought to destroy the city and to erase Bosnia-Herzegovina from the map of Europe. The most vivid symbol of that Croatian triumph came just over 10 years ago, when a couple of well-aimed Croatian artillery shells brought the city's world-famous Old Bridge, the gravity-defying masterpiece of Ottoman Turk architecture erected in 1566, tumbling into the fast green waters of the Neretva. The bridge defined Mostar. Its destruction seemed to augur the city's death. But today, after years of painstaking work and at a cost of £5m, the Old Bridge stands again, a perfect replica built of the same creamy local limestone, a single graceful span stretching 90ft (27 metres) across the ravine and suspended 60ft (18 metres) above the river. www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jul/23/iantraynor

credits (c) Bonjour Matthieu

This is the only photo in the album, which is from Sarajevo and thus is not from Herzegovina. This was made by no mistake. As the southern part of the country is often neglected and referred as Bosnia, so for once I decided them to should shut up and dance along. I must also say, that the same model was applied for Slovakia in the times of Czechoslovakia, and the Slovaks were lukewarmly referred as Czechs. Similarly, but with more awareness, the USSR citizens were also addressed as Russians (even thought people more or less understood that many of them were of different nationality). And the part of the irony is that I write this in English language, as particularly the Anglo-Saxon or English speaking world is the most self centered in this context.

The old gravestones look like a human head with a turban, but the new ones are simple boards.