Sights in Bosnia & Hercegovina
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Stari Most (Old Bridge)
Originally built in 1556, Stari Most was named 'petrified moon' on account of its elegant beauty. It took nine years to build with local Tenelija stone, which is very pale and appears to change colour depending on the position and strength of the sun. Recently rebuilt using the original 16th century methods, the new bridge resembles the old in minute detail.
The Old Bridge stood for 427 years before it was destroyed by bombing in November 1993. Quite apart from the expectations of Mostar's citizens, the reconstruction challenge was overwhelming. As it was such an important symbol, the new bridge had to be identical to the Old Bridge. It was decided to rebuild it without…
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Latin Bridge
Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie paused at the National Library (then the town hall) on that fateful day in 1914. Despite an earlier unsuccessful assassination attempt that day, they rode west along the riverside in an open car to the Latin Bridge. It was here that Gavrilo Princip stepped forward to fire his pistol, killing them both and sparking off war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Thanks to a series of European alliances, this escalated into WWI.
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Sarajevo Roses
Look for the infamous Sarajevo roses on the pavements in central Sarajevo. These are flower shape indentations where a shell has exploded and some have been symbolically filled in with red cement.
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Turkish House
Between Stari Most's two mosques is the 350-year-old Turkish House furnished for a Bosnian family of some stature. The symbolism of the courtyard is intriguing: the ground is decorated with circles of pebbles divided into five sectors denoting the number of times a good Muslim must pray each day. The fountain has 12 spouts for the months, filling four watering pots for the seasons.
Surrounding the fountain are three stone globes, one for the day we were born, the second facing Mecca for the life we lead, and the third for inevitable death that will greet us.
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Tunnel Museum
The tunnel that saved Sarajevo! Most of the 800m-stretch under the airport has collapsed, but the Tunnel Museum, on the southwestern side of the airport, gives visitors just a glimpse of its hopes and horrors: the hopes of people surviving with the food it brought in and of the injured it took out, and the horrors from the pounding overhead artillery and sniper fire during the long hours of waiting to go through.
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Gymnasium
A once-stately building is the now damaged 1896 Gymnasium, a solid piece of Austro-Hungarian architecture softened up by Moorish flourishes.
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Eternal Flame
At the western end of the city centre is the Eternal flame, which commemorates the sacrifices of WWII.
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National Museum
Housed in an impressive Romanesque building, the National museum is a good place to catch up on the country's history, and displays include items from the Neolithic era; Roman findings; Bosniak, Croat and Serb traditional wear; and the Jewish Haggadah - the holy codex brought here by Sephardic Jews.
The relaxing gardens behind the museum contain a botanical collection.
The adjacent History Museum adds the more recent history, displaying old photographs of Bosnia and Hercegovina. The outstanding item is a room of harrowing exhibits from the 1990s war; many are personal belongings that bear some imprint of the siege.
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Museum of Hercegovina
The Museum of Hercegovina is the former house of Džemal Bijedić, who was the ex-head of the Yugoslav government and died in mysterious circumstances in 1978. Now a small museum, that's dedicated more to Mostar than him, it has as its prize exhibit a 10-minute film on how Mostar used, before 1990, the bridge-jumping competition and the actual destruction of the bridge.
At the bottom of the hill below the museum is a telling graveyard where all the headstones share the same date of death.
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Morića Han
Morića Han was a tavern when Sarajevo was a caravan stopover on the ancient trading route between East and West. Wicker chairs for coffee drinkers have now replaced plain benches for weary travellers and a carpet shop with waist-high stacks of rugs fills the former stables. The han (tavern) has been burnt down several times, with the latest reincarnation dating from the 1970s.
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Karadjozbeg Mosque
Mostar's most important mosque was built in 1557 but its minaret and other parts were heavily damaged during the war. Now completely renovated, the mosque is open to visitors. A man will let you climb the minaret too. Behind the mosque is the old Muslim graveyard, the oldest in town, with beautiful grey turbe (tombstones) standing in the grass.
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Morića Han
Come for the history, stay for the coffee. This cafe was once a tavern when Sarajevo was a stopover on the ancient crossroads between East and West. Although wickerwork chairs for coffee drinkers have replaced benches for weary travellers and a carpet shop with waist-high stacks of rugs fill former stables, a historic ambience still permeates the place.
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Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque
Along the eastern side of Kujundžiluk is the 1618 Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque with a commanding view of Stari Most from its minaret. Within the mosque, lit by an immense chandelier plus natural light filtered through coloured glass, is some beautiful linear design work outlining the interior architectural shapes and mihrab.
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Orthodox Church
In the same road as the Jewish Museum and Catholic Church is the old Orthodox Church, which is medieval (last rebuilt in 1740) and predates the yellow-and-brown Orthodox cathedral in Zelenih Beretki. Inside the church don't miss the museum, which showcases Russian, Greek and local icons, as well as tapestries and old manuscripts.
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Orthodox Church of Christ Saviour
Selectively photographed, the fine buildings within a block of Trg Srpskikh Vladaraz could make the folks at home believe that Banja Luka was actually beautiful. The centrepiece is an iconic Orthodox Church of Christ Saviour with a gilded dome and brick bell tower that looks like a Moroccan minaret on Viagara.
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Mostar's Old Bridge
Following its high-profile destruction in 1993, the bridge was reconstructed in 2004, using traditional 16th-century methods. Now the bridge pulls day tourists from Croatia, who come to see young men diving into the river. But the best divers can only be seen in July, when professionals gather for the annual competition.
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Sebilj
This fountain, looking more like an enclosed Oriental gazebo, is not the original and only dates from 1891. From the square a series of parallel lanes, cross alleys and open courtyards strike off in all directions to a boundary of the National Library in the east and Gazi-Husrevbey Mosque in the west.
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Catholic Church
As a measure of their tolerant and multicultural history, Sarajevans are proud to point out that four religions and their places of worship share one city block. Close together are the neo-Gothic 1889 Catholic Church and the old synagogue (1581, last rebuilt in 1821), which is now the Jewish Museum.
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Catholic Church
Behind the 1896 Gymnasium stands the Catholic Church, with its out-of-proportion campanile. The original was extended after the war and smacks of a campanile-versus-minaret one-upmanship, but poor workmanship has meant that it's acquired a lean.
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Gazi-Husrevbey Mosque
The nearby Gazi-Husrevbey Mosque was built by masons from Dubrovnik in 1531. There are some superb internal decorations employing line, pattern and calligraphy in pastel colours to delineate every separate architectural feature.
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Central Post Office
The Central Post Office should be visited for its splendid imperial interior and its big hanging brass clock. Almost opposite across the river is the stunningly graceful Academy of Fine Arts, which is now an art school.
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Republika Srpska Art Gallery
Across Kralja Petra, from the City Hall (Opština) the Republika Srpska Art Gallery occupies an 1891 pile with impressively soaring ceilings but no permanent collection.
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Art Gallery
If you're ever so slightly interested in art, swing by the Art Gallery and be inspired by the designs and boldness of its modern art. Local artists show their work here.
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History Museum
Adjacent to the National Museum, the History Museum is essentially one room of archive material, mostly photographs, covering WWII up to the Srebrenica massacre.
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Jewish Museum
The Jewish Museum has revealing explanations of a Jewish society in Sarajevo that almost ended with the genocides of WWII.
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