The St Franciscan Church
Mostar Feb 12,2010
Mostar was part of Yugoslavia, and under Tito’s rules, Catholic Croates, Orhodox Serbs, and Muslim Bosniaks lived together in harmony. In thecearly 1990s the country unraveled resulting in a three-way Mostar
war between the very same people. Mostar’s famous Old Bridge (the very emblem of the cooperation between ethnicities) was hit by Croatian’s rocket attacks and crumbled down into the Neretva River.
Most of the town (including the Old Bridge) has been rebuilt, but ruined building and walls pocketed by bullets still exists.
Standing in the middle of the Old Bridge one can see nine mosques and the tower of one catholic church, the St Franciscan Church. Since the Catholics could not compete in number of religious facilities, they made their tower, modeled after Venetian campanile, the highest in town.
Mostar’s Old town with the Old Bridge and the Crooked Bridge over the river Neretva, Coopersmith Street with the flavor of a Turkish Bazaar, its open markets, is a delight to visit.
Next, the short trip to Split in Croatia.
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