WAR
DESTRUCTION IN CROATIA
According to official statistics around 300 churches and ecclesiastical
buildings were destroyed in Croatia during the war of 1991-1995.
Another 416 were considered "severely damaged" and 630 "damaged".
Most of them were not medieval structures, yet the medieval ones
did not avoid destruction either. As the map of the destruction
in Dubrovnik shows, the medieval nucleus of the town was among
the targets as well. The OSA Archivum has a special archival fond documenting
this destruction.
HU OSA 304-0-10: Records of the International Human Rights Law
Institute Relating to the Conflict in the Former Yugoslavia (IHRLI):
Reports on the Destruction of Cultural Property
HU OSA 304-0-16: RECORDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW
INSTITUTE RELATING TO THE CONFLICT IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (IHRLI):
VIDEO RECORDINGS RELATING TO THE CONFLICT IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
CRIME
TURNED LUCKY FOR MEDIEVALISTS
The baroque parish church in Gora near Petrinja was first burned
by Serbian rebels in 1991 and later, in 1992, completely destroyed
by mining. The cleaning of the ruins uncovered the remains of
an early Gothic church given to the Templars by the Hungarian
King Bela III. The church will now be rebuilt in its 12th-13th
century form.
MOSTAR
BRIDGE
The bridge which spans the Neretva River was designed by the
Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin (also known as Hayrettin) and
was completed in 1566 after nine years of work. The 28-meter-long
and 20-meter-high structure, a classic example of the single
span stone arch bridge, is now listed as a UNESCO world heritage
site. On November 9th, 2003 the bridge was destroyed by the Croatian
Defense Council (Hrvatsko Vijeće Obrane) in the course
of its armed struggle against the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina
(Armija Bosne i Hercegovine). Following reconstruction
and supported by international efforts, the bridge was reopened
on July 23rd, 2004.
