In the framework of cultural activities, the “ALSAR” Foundation organized a tourist vacation in Bosnia-Herzegovina aiming to become familiar with the cultural and historical inheritance of this place, located in our region.
The magic of this trip lies in the fact that it is worth to peacefully contemplate a place that you see for the first time, to satisfy the curiosity and emotions that conquered you days ago and to see beautiful and impressive things, objects and interesting landscapes.
This rare vacation did not thrill us only for the natural beauties, culture, historical objects with architectural values, order, human behavior, but also for the development of this place, known as Bosnia-Herzegovina.
We all know the bloody history of the most ethnic wild genocide, sincewhen20 years have passed and it is to be remembered as one of the most tragic events in the Balkans. Before the 90’s, Bosnia-Herzegovina for some decades was one of the six republics of Yugoslavia, a multiethnic state, where the most part was covered by Bosnians, others by Serbian and Croats.
The humble and culture-loving people of Bosnia-Herzegovina, who experienced the horror of absurd genocide from his neighbor, have highly preserved the evidence of ancient and new culture. The traces of that unprecedented conflict are still visible today in various buildings: houses, hotels, factories hit by bullets and missiles, as a natural museum of that page of history written in blood in the years 1992-1995. “Mostari” is one of the cities that suffered the most severe genocide.
During our trip, we stopped in this city, located in the middle of a large rocky gorge. What attracts you the most in Mostar is the bridge, the symbol of the city, known as “Bridge of Mostar”.
Neretva River passed dozens of bridges, but the most interesting is the Stone Bridge, a magnificent architectural construction. The five-hundred-year-old bridge was destroyed with artillery on 9 November 1993 by the Bosnian Croats’ army. The old bridge has not any strategic importance, but its destruction aimed at extinguishing a symbol of Ottoman culture. It was rebuilt 11 years after its destruction. After 7 years of intensive work, today stands again wonderfully with the same structure as the first, built during 1557-1566, under the orders of the Great Sultan Suleiman.
The next morning found us over Sarajevo, initially in Vrelo Bosne, a park that reminds you of Drilon in Pogradec. Sarajevo surprises you with its typical architecture. This reality is enough for us to understand the nature in one hand and the culture of its development in the other.
It is difficult to walk over the entire city of Sarajevo, but we as much as we saw, we remained quite satisfied and at the same time, surprised. Especially when we were in front of numerous mosques made us hesitate in our first encounter with their greatness and beauty.
You did not know what to see first, and still, we made dozens of photos in front of the 500-year-old Gazi Husref Bey Mosque, special for architectural values. A masterly artwork in technique and combinations.
The days were not enough to enjoy all these glamorous charms of Bosnia and Herzegovina. By showing you these pictures of those beauties during the days of this trip, we think we will transmit to you a little piece of those emotions we experienced in that short, but unforgettable stand.
