Thursday, November 21, 2013

Stones of the Past from Mostar

This weeks theme on the Friday My Town Shoot out blog, is about things that make you stop, and draw you in. In my city, that's definitely the Old Bridge, but since I posted already about it, I thought about something else. There is a small garden nearby the Old Town, that houses a couple of interesting artifacts I want to talk about more.

click on the images for a bigger view

First there are relicts of the old Old Bridge. During the war at the beginning of the 90s the Old Bridge was destroyed by enemy forces, and then rebuild. The garden houses parts of the old cobblestone that made out the walking path of the bridge.


On a plaque it says: Original Cobblestone of the old Bridge from 1566 - Exhibit from the World Museum Exhibition "The Old Bridge - The Monument of Peace" - Center for peace and multiethnic cooperation Mostar - Mostar 2004


The Garden also houses a different form of Stones from the past: Stecak.  A Stecak is a monumental medieval tombstone, that dates back to 11th century. The word itself is a contracted form of the older word stojećak, which is derived from the verb stajati (stand). It literally means "the standing thing".


Their most remarkable feature is their decorative motifs, many of which remain enigmatic to this day. Spirals, arcades, rosettes, vine leaves and grapes, suns and crescent moons are among the images that appear.


This the new cobblestone on the Bridge. You can see that its new and shiny, and that the old stones had more history and life behind them. Nonetheless, they were recreated to look like the did a long time ago.



I hope you enjoyed this short trip into Bosnian History, and for more weaknesses in other people towns and cities, make sure to visit the group blog.

38 comments:

  1. i had a hard time loading some of your photos again today. the last one came through nice and clear. nice bridge.

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    1. They are loading fine for me. Let me know if this persists.

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  2. I loved your other post on this bridge and that black and white is awesome. the bridge is amazing. so glad they built it back... i see Tex said problem loading, they all loaded fine for me.. might be those cyber aliens again that make our computers do strange things.

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  3. Beautiful series of images! The last shot of the bridge is definitely my favorite. Have a happy weekend!

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  4. Such a beautiful place and you capture it so well. I love old stone like this...it has such character

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  5. Beautiful Bridge. I would love to be able to examine the old stones and their markings. I think I would have enjoyed being an archeologist. I think from what little I have seen, that Bosnia must be a beautiful country. I visit Scriptor Senex and see he is part of Friday My Town Shootout. I thought I once participated in this but that it closed. Maybe it was one similar. Anyway, I'm going to try to participate for a few weeks even though the holidays are almost upon us; but I do like to have a prompt to guide my posting.

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    1. I would love it if you would participate again. It's easy, and we always need more people to join in.

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  6. It is amazing to me that there are such ancient artifacts in your area. Wonderful history!

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    1. It amazes me too Kate. Thank you for visiting.

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  7. The B&W is a nice touch. There's just so much history there - the original cobblestone is just priceless. 1566 was a long time ago!!

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    1. It sure was. It was built by the Turks, back during the Ottoman Empire.

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  8. I like poking around old cemeteries - the headstones are fascinating.

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    1. In this case the steci were just transported into the garden. No graves there.

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  9. Hi Facsinating Bosnian history and I love that last B& W shot of the bridge.

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  10. Tis a very fascinating bridge style. Thanks for sharing.

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  11. I love how history is still alive in so many of your photos.

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  12. Nice shots! Thanks for visiting and leaving such nice comments on my blog. I'm following you now too. :)

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  13. Love the b & w of the bridge. So good to see your town's history has been restored and preserved after so much devastation.

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  14. Talk about some old stones! Wonderful history. Great black and white of the bridge!

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  15. Ja, ich habe es genossen und finde es klasse wenn solche Dinge erhalten bleiben Dazu dann auch noch Information finde ich toll. Leider hier nicht immer vorhanden, da sind sie so manches Mal noch rückständig.

    Wünsche dir ein schönes Wochenende und sende herzliche Grüsse

    Nova

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  16. Great history commentary, Mersad. Your first photo didn't load at all but I got to see the rest. By the way, I like your logo. It's simple yet effective.

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    1. Thanks. That's what I strived for when creating it.

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  17. Interesting. I liked the last one especially.

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  18. I had no trouble loading the photos of your blog. sometimes it is the speed and size allowed of the downloading internet service.
    I love the first and the last shots. the bridge in b&w is self explanatory - is just a wonderful photo. ('just' is a pattern of speech not a limitation on the photo) . The first photo is really my favorite. The history slightly hidden in the grass, telling its story, giving us a glimpse of its past - this is something I like to photo also.

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    1. That's a very good commentary on the images. You definitely described it well.

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  19. I really like the last photo, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary. It seemed so surreal to me when you mentioned the war of the 90's. Wow, that's just around the corner.

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    1. I know. I shocks me too, every time I think about it.

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