Sunday, November 12, 2006

Stari Most(Balkan beauty video)








An amazing Combination of Balkan Sounds and Images by Youtuber Ivan Jelisavcic

12 comments:

Ecumene said...

The elegant bridge spanned the River Neretva and was designed by the Ottoman (Turkish) architect Mimar Hayruddin,student of Sinan (Mimar means “architect” in arabic and Turkish). It was completed in 1566 after nines years of building and the surrounding town became a thriving trading centre. The bridge was 29 metres in length and stood at a height of 20-28 metres, a classic example of a single span, stone arch bridge and was an example of advanced technology in its time. It became a World Heritage site during the twentieth century..
The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire(Suleiman the Magnificent )swore to execute Mimar Hayruddin if the bridge collapsed after the wooden supports were removed (how is a stone arch built ?). It is said that Hayruddin started to dig his own grave on the day the supports were removed. However, the bridge stood for 429 years

Stari Most and Architecture

Ecumene said...

During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), Croatian secessionist forces turned against Bosnian government forces, and destroyed the bridge on November 9, 1993. It had already been damaged from Serbian bombardment in 1992. Both Serb and Croat nationalists saw the bridge and old historic area around it as part of the Bosniak and Islamic culture, and it was often targeted during their bombardments.
In 1992 the parapet of the Old Bridge was pierced by an artillery projectile at one point very close to the approach on the right bank of the Neretva on the downstream side. On 9 November 1993 the bridge was completely destroyed, falling into the Neretva, following sustained artillery attacks from Cekrk and other surrounding hills. The Croat forces deliberately targeted it citing military reasons, since the bridge was the only link between Bosniak-held left bank of the Neretva river and small pocket of territory under their control on the right bank.
Reconstruction

Now listed as a World Heritage Site, the bridge was rebuilt under the aegis of UNESCO. Its 1,088 stones were shaped according to the original techniques, and the reconstruction cost about 12 million €. It reopened on July 22, 2004, and its reopening ceremonies were based on the idea of reconciling the Bosnian communities, even though bad blood and suspicion remain evident.
It is traditional for the young men of the town to leap from the bridge into the Neretva. As the Neretva is so cold, this is a very risky feat and only the most skilled and best trained divers will attempt it. The first person to jump from the bridge since it was re-opened was Enej Kelecija, a local who now resides in the United States.

Stari Most

Ecumene said...

In 1991 the municipality of Mostar had a population of 126,066. The ethnic distribution was; Bosniak (34.65%), Croat (33.83%), Serb (18.97%), Yugoslav (10.03%) and 2.32% others. Mostar itself had 75,865 inhabitants. In 2003 the population was 105,448. Ethnic distribution was; Croat (48.29%), Bosniaks (47.43%), Serb (3.45%)

As of 2006, estimates say Croats form at least a narrow majority in the city of Mostar. But they do not have any political power in the city because the politics is equally divided between Croats and Bosniaks.
The city has had a carefully elaborated policy of national equality ever since the end of the war. The Croat and Bosniak ethnic communities each claim one side of the river and even support for the local football clubs, Zrinjski and Velež, is divided along ethnic lines. One Bosnian politician called Mostar "divided by a wall between Croats and Bosniaks" in an interview to RTV Sloveni.


Mostar

Anonymous said...

Τα Βαλκανια κατα τη γνωμη μου -συμφωνα με την μαγια των ανθρωπων της- ειναι οτι πιο ελπιδοφορο υπαρχει αυτη τη στιγμη στην τεχνη για κατι διαφορετικο.Δυστυχως ομως δεν νομιζω να μας αφησουν οι κλειδοκρατορες :)

Ecumene said...

Key-keepers?...
:-)

The problem is,firstly,with us
the Balkanians should
make our criticism...


....And so, the city fathers, sick of public art devoted to nationalist heroes who are inevitably villains to half the population, issued a playful put-down by commissioning a sculpture of Bruce Lee

And, of course, as one wag pointed out, nobody has anything to say about what Bruce Lee did in World War II, which in the Balkans appears to make him a unifying figure.


So, what did you do in the war, Bruce?

:-)


Mostar's Little Dragon
How Bruce Lee became a symbol of peace in the Balkans.

Ecumene said...

WHAT'S IN BOSNIA'S FUTURE?
The Curse of Dayton

By Renate Flottau

Germany wants to withdraw troops from Bosnia-Herzegovina. But is the young republic ready? Violence simmers just below the surface and a spark from Kosovo could be enough to light off an inferno.


...When the Bosnian war ended, it took 60,000 international troops -- as part of IFOR -- to prevent Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims from committing even more violence. ..



..The Bosnians attribute this failure mainly to what they call the "Curse of Dayton." Under the terms of the 1995 Peace Accords, the country was divided into two entities...



Only four weeks ago, grenades were fired at a mosque near Mostar and a Catholic cemetery was desecrated. A planned attack on the nearby pilgrimage site of Medugorje was only averted at the last minute. Despite years of international administration, Mostar, a city of 110,000 on the banks of the Neretva River, remains divided into a Croat-dominated western section and a predominantly Muslim eastern section.

Serb secession?

Teachers still use an Apartheid-like system in more than 50 Bosnia schools, where Serb, Croat and Bosnian Muslim students are kept carefully separated.

According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), a million of the roughly 2.2 million Bosnian refugees have returned home. But what these statistics do not reveal is the fact that of those who returned and were given back their former homes, 80 percent promptly sold them and resettled in those areas in which their own respective ethnic group are in the majority.


Spiegel

ioannisk said...

Που θυμήθηκες την γέφυρα του Mostar? :)

bala said...

nice relections on water!
nice colors too!

Anonymous said...

Maybe a Red Bull Party in Mostar bridge

could help reconciliation...

:)

Unknown said...

Τσούκου-τσούκου να δείτε που θα την ξαναστήσουν την ομοσπονδία οι γιούγκοι! Καλή αρχή με τη γέφυρα του Μόσταρ!

trol said...

σιγά μην δεν έχτιζαν πάλι...αλάνια είναι, και το mostar πανέμορφο

Anonymous said...

Απλά φανταστικό!!!

Για να καθαρίσουμε την Ελλάδα / To clean-up Greece Site Meter