Mostar is forever linked with an image of the Old Bridge spanning the Neretva River and cobbled quarters of the old town.
The town itself was once part of the Roman Empire, and developed in the 15th and 16th century as an Ottoman frontier town and during the Austro-Hungarian period in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Old Bridge dates back to the 16th century, when Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent commissioned the Turkish architect Hajrudin to replace an old chain-supported timber bridge.
Mostar's Old Bridge took nine years to build and was opened some time between July and September in 1566.
Unfortunately, the bridge was destroyed during the war in 1993.
Recently rebuilt using the original 16th century methods, the new bridge resembles the old on in detail. The cobbled quarter of the old town is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The bridge is also the jumping-off point for divers, or "Mostaris," who have been taking the 30m plunge into the 7°C waters of the Neretva River for centuries.
