PONT MEHMED-PACHA-SOKOLOVIĆ

Built between 1571 and 1577, this bridge (Most Mehmed-Paše Sokolovića/Мост Мехмед-Паше Соколовића) has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2007. It was designed by the prestigious Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan (1489-1588) for the Grand Vizier Mehmed Pasha Sokolović (1505-1579). A source of inspiration for Ivo Andrić's novel The Bridge over the Drina (1945), this work of art was also the site of terrible massacres in 1943 and 1992. Alas, this part of history is not mentioned either by Unesco or on the explanatory signs installed on site. This makes the visit particularly disturbing.

History. The bridge was designed to facilitate trade between Serbia and Ragusa (Dubrovnik, Croatia). But the banks are considered unbuildable because of the violent floods of the Drina. To build the bridge, Mimar Sinan will take seven years and enjoy an unlimited budget from Mehmed Pasha Sokolović. Solidly built, the bridge is however submerged in 1896. The piers were shaken and eroded, the parapets, washed away. The structure was restored and reinforced in 1911-1912. In 1915, to cover their retreat against the Austro-Hungarians, the Serbian troops destroyed two of the piers. The bridge remained disemboweled for twenty-five years. In October 1943, it was used as a place of execution by the Serbian Chetniks who massacred the Bosnians of Višegrad. The same Chetniks then asked the British artillerymen who accompanied them to dynamite the structure. This time, half of the bridge disappeared, before being rebuilt in 1950-1952. In 1987, the inauguration of the modern Garč bridge, 1 km downstream, allows to limit the passage of vehicles that threatened the structure. But the reinforcement work was interrupted by the war. From June to October 1992, the old bridge was once again used by Serb nationalists to execute Bosnian civilians. The corpses thrown into the Drina continue to be found regularly. This does not prevent the tourist office from organizing a diving competition in July since 2007.

Visit. 179.5 m long, the bridge has eleven arches from 11 to 15 m wide, as well as a sloping access ramp of four arches on the left bank of the Drina. The wall erected in the center bears two inscriptions written in Ottoman Turkish paying tribute to Mehmed Pasha Sokolović. Above: "He built a magnificent bridge over the Bosnian Drina with a line of arches over a deep and noisy river. His ancestors were not able to build such a thing, the great pasha did it according to the will of God, so that his name would be mentioned with respect and gratitude. He built a bridge that does not exist anywhere in the world Below: "The great philanthropist Mehmed Pasha who was a great vizier for three sultans leaves the most beautiful legacy that bears the mark of God. With a pure intention, he decided to build a huge bridge over the Drina River. The bridge was so well built that the passerby crossing it could see it as a pearl on the water with the sky as its setting On the right bank stands the Hotel Višegrad, another site of massacres in 1992, and the monument to Ivo Andrić, a white marble sculpture made in 1984 by the Sarajevan sculptor Ljupko Antunović (1939-2012), who was a friend of Andrić. Destroyed in 1994, the work was remade by the artist after the war.