Anne Skyvington
  • Writing
  • Mythos
  • Travel
  • Australia
  • Book Reviews
  • Poetry
  • Memoir
  • Publishing
  • Guest Post
  • Psychology
  • home
  • ABOUT
  • Contact

Anne Skyvington

The Art of Creative Writing

  • Writing
  • Mythos
  • Travel
  • Australia
  • Book Reviews
  • Poetry
  • Memoir
  • Publishing
  • Guest Post
  • Psychology
Tag

Mostar bridge shelled in Bosnia-Herzogovina

mostar-bridge
TravelWriting

The Bridge at Mostar

The bridge is pleasing to the eye. It’s perfect in its simplicity. You can only appreciate the grace of its arcs from a distance, or from the pebbly beach down below.

Looking up you see a figure standing on the topmost point of the arc. A man is waiting until the amount of money offered by spectators on the bridge reaches a certain point. Jumping is dangerous. If satisfied with the offering, he will jump into the Neretva River below the bridge. It’s a drop of twenty-four metres. The water is always cold. A young Australian man died last year when his body hit the cold water. Up above, the temperature had reached nearly forty-five degrees celsius. He died from a heart attack.

mostar-man-waiting-to-jumpThe Mostar Bridge is in Southern Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country today inhabited by 113,169 people. The bridge was destroyed by shelling in 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak war. The Old Bridge, an Ottoman structure, stood for 427 years. Reconstructed with international aid, gathered by UNESCO after the war, it has become a World Heritage structure.  It is constructed of 1556 stones.

I first learnt about this bridge from a Bosnian refugee in Sydney during the nineties. He was giving a cultural talk in a Second Language class I was teaching at the time. This inspired me to one day visit Bosnia-Herzogovina and see this bridge for myself. I got the chance this month while staying in Croatia, a three-hour bus trip away. We had to pass through three border stops, as a slim coastal strip belongs to Bosnia.

The bridge is whole once more, but the people in Mostar remain split, torn asunder by trauma left over from the war.  Moslems live on the east of the town, worshipping in mosques, while Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbians are on the west. Healing takes a long time in these situations. The three entities tend to choose segregation rather than forgiveness at this stage.stones-mostar-bridge-2015

 

The Bridge at Mostar was last modified: March 16th, 2018 by Anne Skyvington
October 15, 2016 2 comments
0 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest

About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington

Anne Skyvington is a writer based in Sydney who has been practising and teaching creative writing skills for many years. You can learn here about structuring a short story and how to go about creating a longer work, such as a novel or a memoir. Subscribe to this blog and receive a monthly newsletter on creative writing topics and events.

Buy Karrana my debut novel from Amazon online

EBook Cover

My How To book about Writing A Novel: The Big Picture

The Craft of Writing Included in Top Creative Writing Blogs

Top 30 Creative Writing Blogs, Websites & Influencers in 2020

Connect With Me

Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest Linkedin Youtube Email

Recent Posts

  • Have You Ever Experienced The “Numen”?

    April 27, 2022
  • I visit the Ukraine in 1968

    February 25, 2022
  • In Search of a Voice

    February 19, 2022
  • Armidale: The Gang of Four

    February 18, 2022
  • KARRANA: A Professional Review

    February 11, 2022

I’ve joined ALLI

About The Author

About The Author

Anne Skyvington is a Sydney-based writer and blogger. <a href="http://anneskyvington.com.au She has self-published a novel, 'Karrana' and is currently writing a creative memoir based on her life and childhood with a spiritual/mystical dimension.

Popular Posts

  • Randwick Writers’ Group: Sharing Writing Skills

    May 7, 2020
  • 5 Further Publishing Facts

    April 1, 2020
  • Symbolism of Twins

    October 2, 2017
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Linkedin

&copy: 2021 Anne Skyvington. All Rights Reserved. Site by Nate Hoffelder.


Back To Top