The Bosnian Manuscript Ingathering Project: Mostar

Efforts to Reconstruct the Mostar Bridge...

MTI Hungarian News Agency
December 1, 1997

MOSTAR BRIDGE WRECKAGE LIFTED BY HUNGARIANS

Zagreb, 1 December (MTI) -- The Hungarian technical military unit serving in Bosnia as part of the Stabilisation Force hoisted the last block of the Old Bridge of Mostar from the Neretva River, Lieutenant-Colonel Geza Meszaros, spokesman of the unit, told MTI today.

The 28-metre-long and 20-metre-high bridge, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site, was built by the Ottoman Turks in 1566 of 456 blocks of stone, hundreds of which fell into the river when the bridge was destroyed during Croat-Muslim clashes four years ago.

Since August, Hungarian military divers managed to pinpoint all the blocks and remove them from the water.

Technical experts and staff members of the Hungarian Bridge Building Company (Hidepito Rt.) will survey how the blocks can be used for the reconstruction of the bridge, still regarded as a symbol of Mostar.

Below are links to pictures documenting the raising of the first pieces of the bridge from the Neretva River on 29 September 1997, and the public celebration of the occasion.

Raising the first piece of the bridge from the river. The object bedecked with flowers in the foreground is the first piece of the destroyed bridge successfully raised from the waters of the Neretva. In the background standing in the middle is the commander of the Hungarian SFOR unit that did the underwater survey, to the right is Andras Zsigmondi of the Hungarian bridge-construction company Hidepito Rt., which is donating its services in designing and implementing the salvage of the collapsed bridge from the riverbed.
The first raised stonework is placed on the platform built for storing pieces of the bridge, surrounded by soldiers present for the festivities.
The special storage platform, built to hold the stonework raised from the river and to allow examination and assembly of the pieces of the bridge.
Staff of Hidepito celebrating on top of the pontoon used for lifting the stonework from the river.
The reviewing stand, with Izetbegovic, the NATO commander, and local dignitaries.
The mechanism for lifting the stones from the river. Not yet available.
The mechanism for lifting the stones from the river. Not yet available.
Street scene from Mostar. Not yet available.
The first piece of the bridge lifted from the river. Not yet available.
Close-up of the blasted bridgehead, with the temporary pedestrian bridge above. Not yet available.
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