Mostar - History

History

Human settlements on the river Neretva, between the Hum Hill and the Velež Mountain, have existed since prehistory, as witnessed by discoveries of fortified enceintes and cemeteries. Evidence of Roman occupation was discovered beneath the present town.

As far as medieval Mostar goes, although the Christian basilicas of late antiquity remained in use, few historical sources were preserved and not much is known about this period. The name of Mostar was first mentioned in a document dating from 1474, taking its name from the bridge-keepers (mostari); this refers to the existence of a wooden bridge from the market on the left bank of the river which was used by traders, soldiers, and other travelers. During this time it was also the seat of a kadiluk (district with a regional judge). Since Mostar was on the trade route between the Adriatic and the mineral-rich regions of central Bosnia, the settlement began to spread to the right bank of the river.

However, prior to the 1474 the names of two towns appear in medieval historical sources, along with their later medieval territories and properties – the towns of Nebojša and Cimski grad. In the early 15th century the late medieval county of Večenike covered the site of the present-day Mostar along the right bank of the Neretva: Zahum, Cim, Ilići, Hraštani and Vojno. It was at the center of this area, which in 1408 belonged to the Radivojević's, that Cim fort was built (prior to 1443). Mostar is indirectly referred to in a charter of King Alfonso V of Aragon dating from 1454 as Pons (Bridge), for a bridge had already been built there. Prior to 1444, the Nebojša fort was built on the left bank of the Neretva, which belonged to the late medieval county still known as Večenike or Večerić. The earliest documentary reference to Mostar as a settlement dates from April 3, 1452, when natives of Dubrovnik wrote to their fellow countrymen in the service of Đorđe Branković to say that Vladislav Hercegović had turned against his father and occupied the town called Blagaj and other places, including “Duo Castelli al ponte de Neretua.”.

In 1468 Mostar came under Ottoman rule and the urbanization of the settlement began. Following the unwritten oriental rule, the town was organized into two distinct areas: čaršija, the crafts and commercial centre of the settlement, and mahala or a residential area. In 1468 Mostar acquired the name Köprühisar, meaning fortress at the bridge, at the centre of which was a cluster of 15 houses.

The town was fortified between the years 1520 and 1566, and the wooden bridge was rebuilt in stone. The stone bridge, the Old Bridge (Stari Most), was erected in 1566 on the orders of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman ruler. Later becoming the city's symbol, the Old Bridge (Stari Most) is one of the most important structures of the Ottoman era and perhaps Bosnia's most recognizable architectural piece, and was designed by Mimar Hayruddin, a student and apprentice of the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. In the late 16th century, Mostar was the chief administrative city for the Ottoman Empire in the Herzegovina region.

The Stari Most bridge: 28 meters long and 20 meters high (90' by 64'), quickly became a wonder in its own time. The famous traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote in the 17th century that: the bridge is like a rainbow arch soaring up to the skies, extending from one cliff to the other. ...I, a poor and miserable slave of Allah, have passed through 16 countries, but I have never seen such a high bridge. It is thrown from rock to rock as high as the sky.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire absorbed Mostar in 1878 and it ruled there until the aftermath of World War I in 1918. During this period, Mostar was recognized as the unofficial capital of all of Herzegovina (as it always was). The first church in the city of Mostar, a Serbian Orthodox Church, was built in 1834. during the Turkish rule. In 1881 the town became the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mostar-Duvno and in 1939, it became a part of the Banovina of Croatia. During World War II Mostar was also an important city in the fascist Independent State of Croatia.

After the World War II, Mostar developed a production of plastics (fundamentally used in toilet seats) tobacco, bauxite, wine, aircraft and aluminium products. Several dams (Grabovica, Salakovac, Mostar) were built in the region to harness the hydroelectric power of the Neretva. The city was a major industrial and tourist center and prospered economically during the time of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Between 1992 and 1993, after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia, the town was subject to an 18 month siege. The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) first bombed Mostar on 3 April 1992, and over the following week gradually established control over a large part of the town. By 12 June 1992, the 4th Corps of the ARBiH (which was one of five later seven corps formed in 1992) and the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) in a joined action amassed enough strength to force the JNA out of Mostar. The JNA responded with shelling. Amongst the monuments destroyed were a Franciscan monastery, the Catholic cathedral and the bishop's palace (with a library of 50,000 books), a number of secular institutions as well as the Karadžoz-bey mosque, and thirteen other mosques.

In mid June 1992, after the battle line moved eastward, the HVO demolished the Serbian Orthodox Žitomislić Monastery as well as the Saborna Crkva (Orthodox Cathedral Church) that was built in 1863-1873. During the Bosnian War of 1992-95, the Serb Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Serbian: Саборна црква Св. Тројице) and the Church of the Birth of the Most Holy Virgin (Црква Рођења Пресвете Богородице/Crkva Rođenja Presvete Bogorodice), both dating to the mid 19th century, were demolished by the HVO. The cathedral was also known as the New Orthodox Church (Нова православна црква/Nova pravoslavna crkva), while the latter was known as the Old Orthodox Church (Стара православна црква/Stara pravoslavna crkva). According to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nikola Špirić, the reconstruction of the cathedral was due to begin in Spring 2008, and was to be funded by Prince Charles.

On 18 November 1991, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) branch in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed the existence of the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mostar was divided into a western part, which was dominated by the Croat forces, and an eastern part, where the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was largely concentrated with most of the Bosniak population being expelled and driven from their homes in the western part of the city during the war. After the war, the ICTY accused the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia leadership for the crimes against humanity and other war crimes during the war, including the destruction of the Stari Most.