Mostar, Bosnia
Mostar’s 16th-century Ottoman bridge, blown up in 1993 during the Balkan wars, was reopened this week. The bridge over the Neretva river connected the Bosnian Croat side of the city with the Bosnian Muslim side, and its destruction by Croat shells was seen as a symbol of the bitter ethnic strife that tore Yugoslavia apart. At the gala ceremony to dedicate the repaired bridge, Muslim and Croat dance groups and musicians performed together. As a climax, 12 young men dove headfirst from the bridge, a traditional rite of passage in Mostar and one that had been missed in the past decade. “Mostar was full of love,” said Sarajevo’s Dnevni Avaz newspaper. “The streets have a special smell—they say it is the smell of goodwill.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
Why can't France hold on to its prime ministers?Today's Big Question Spiralling debt, ageing population and cultural refusal to accept budget cuts – despite high welfare spending – have been turbocharged by Emmanuel Macron
