All of our lectures are live streamed and are open to anyone to join us online, Fellows and Non-Fellows.
To view any of our past lectures please visit our YouTube channel.
To view any of our past lectures please visit our YouTube channel.
Remembering the Destruction of the Old Bridge at Mostar 30 Years On
by Helen Walasek
This lecture on 9 November 2023 will take place on the 30th anniversary of the destruction of the Old Bridge (Stari Most) in Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, an emblematic event in the destruction of cultural heritage during conflict. On that date in 1993 what had been one of the world’s most beautiful and renowned bridges crumpled into the River Neretva under the impact of Bosnian Croat shelling during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War. Built in 1566 by the master builder Hajrudin on the order of Suleiman the Magnificent, at the zenith of Ottoman power and splendour, the Stari Most was part of a group of architecturally significant sixteenth-century structures in Bosnia-Herzegovina that did not survive intentional destruction during the war of the 1990s.The attack on the bridge was to figure prominently in the last of the ground-breaking war crimes prosecutions of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
On 23 July 2004, just over 10 years after the bridge’s destruction, a triumphant ceremony was held in Mostar to celebrate completion of the Stari Most’s rebuilding. While the destruction of the bridge brought world wide condemnation, its reconstruction, attended by such figures as the then Prince Charles, also gained global attention and was intended to be a powerful symbol of reunification and reconciliation, a significant marker – or so it was hoped – in Bosnia’s post-conflict recovery.
The lecture will explore not only the destruction of the Stari Most and its impact on Bosnians, the neighbouring regions and the wider world, but will take a critical look at its rebuilding that was promoted as a landmark project of the international community in postwar Bosnia-Herzegovina with its aspirations for reconciliation and reintegration and whether these were achieved. In addition, it will examine the contentious course of the prosecution for the destruction of the Stari Most at the ICTY.
This event will be both in person at Burlington House and online. Please select the appropriate ticket below.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]