PONT EFFONDRÉ DE LA NERETVA

This amazing remnant of an iron bridge (Sruseni Most na Neretvi) has hung on the left bank of the Neretva since 1968. It is a reconstruction of an old railway bridge made for the purposes of the film The Battle of Neretva by Veljko Bulajić, released in 1969. Completely collapsed into the river, it is maintained as a historical monument. With a length of 78 m, the original bridge was built in England and installed here in 1888, during the Austro-Hungarian period. It was dynamited during the battle of the Neretva at the end of February 1943. A new bridge was built by order of the Germans in August 1943. The latter was destroyed in 1968 for the needs of the filming. But as the shot was not satisfactory, another bridge was built, always on the same model. It is this third bridge that we can see today. However, it is not the one seen in the film, since it is finally a miniature reconstruction of the explosion that was chosen. Above the bridge is the bunker occupied by the Serbian Chetniks to defend the passage against the partisans. On the right bank, near the museum, lies the Partisan Memorial Park with the stone bearing the inscription of the famous phrase attributed to Tito "Ranjenike ne smijemo ostaviti" ("We must not abandon the wounded") as well as an Austro-Hungarian locomotive and a wagon used by the partisans. Since 2022, a footbridge has been used to cross from one bank to the other.