Stari Most ('Old Bridge' in English) is a 16th-century Ottoman bridge in the city of Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is considered an exemplary piece of Balkan Islamic architecture, and was designed by Mimar Hayruddin, a student and apprentice of the famous architect Mimar Sinan.

Stari Most spans the Neretva river in the old town of Mostar, the city to which it gave the name. The bridge is hump-backed, 4 meters (13 ft 1 in) wide and 30 meters long, and dominates the river from a height of 24 m. Two fortified towers protect it: the Halebija tower on the northeast and the Tara tower on the southwest, called "the bridge keepers".

The original bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557 to replace an older wooden suspension bridge. Construction began in 1557 and took nine years: according to the inscription the bridge was completed in 1566 or 1567. Upon its completion it was the widest man-made arch in the world.[citation needed]

The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed on 9 November 1993 during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Newspapers based in Sarajevo reported that more than 60 shells hit the bridge before it collapsed. After the destruction of Stari Most, a spokesman for the Croats admitted that they deliberately destroyed it, claiming that it was of strategic importance. Academics have argued that the bridge held little strategic value and that its shelling was an example of deliberate cultural property destruction.

After the end of the war, plans were raised to reconstruct the bridge. The World Bank, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and the World Monuments Fund formed a coalition to oversee reconstruction. Additional funding was provided by Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Croatia and the Council of Europe Development Bank, as well as the Bosnian government. It was decided to build a bridge as similar as possible to the original, using local materials and Ottoman construction techniques. Tenelia stone from local quarries was obtained and Hungarian army divers recovered stones from the original bridge from the river below.

Reconstruction commenced in June 2001. The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated in 2004, with the cost estimated to be 15.5 million US dollars.

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Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in in Bosnia/Herzegovina. Mostar was named after the bridge keepers who in the medieval times guarded the Stari Most (Old Bridge) over the Neretva. The Old Bridge, built by the Ottomans in the 16th century, is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks.

In 1468 Mostar came under Ottoman rule and the urbanization of the settlement began. The town was organized into two distinct areas: čaršija, the crafts and commercial center of the settlement, and mahala or a residential area. In 1468 Mostar acquired the name Köprühisar, meaning fortress at the bridge, at the center of which was a cluster of 15 houses.

The Koski Mehmed Paša Mosque (above, at left) was built in 1617. The mosque and the minaret are open to the public . Just around the corner from the mosque is the Tepa Market. This has been a busy marketplace since Ottoman times. It now sells mostly fresh produce grown in Herzegovina and, when in season, the figs and pomegranates are extremely popular. Local honey is also a prominent specialty, being produced all around Herzegovina.

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Trebinje is the southern-most municipality in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Republika Srpska entity, some 10 km from the Adriatic Sea. The town lies on the Trebišnjica River. Trebinje comes from the Byzantine term Travunia, which was initially a Byzantine territory governed by the Serbs.

Trebinje commanded the road from Ragusa to Constantinople, traversed, in 1096, by Raymond of Toulouse and his crusaders. It belonged to the Serbian Empire until 1355. Trebinje became a part of the expanded Medieval Bosnian state under Tvrtko I in 1373. There is a medieval tower in Gornje Police (Gornye Politse) whose construction is often attributed to Vuk Branković. The old Tvrdoš Monastery dates back to the 15th century.

In 1482, together with the rest of Herzegovina, it was captured by the Ottoman Empire. The Old Town-Kastel was built by Turks on location of the medieval fortress of Ban Vir, on the western bank of the Trebišnjica River. The city walls, the Old Town square, and two mosques, were built in beginning of the 18th century by Resulbegović family.

The town largely escaped damage during the 1990s war, but significant Ottoman architectural landmarks were destroyed, including the Resulbegovic Historic House, and Sultan's Mosque. The Osman-Pasha (Resulbegovic) Mosque of Trebinje was rebuilt by the returned Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) community and inaugurated in July 2005.

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Mostar was named after the 'bridge keepers' who guarded the Stari Most (Old Bridge) over Neretva river. The original bridge was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557. Construction began in 1557 and took nine years: according to the inscription the bridge was completed in 974 AH, corresponding to the period between July 19, 1566 and July 7, 1567.

Little is known of the building of the bridge, and all that has been preserved in writing are memories and legends and the name of the builder, Mimar Hayruddin (student of Mimar Sinan, the Ottoman architect). Charged under pain of death to construct a bridge of such unprecedented dimensions, the architect reportedly prepared for his own funeral on the day the scaffolding was finally removed from the completed structure. Upon its completion it was the widest man-made arch in the world. Certain associated technical issues remain a mystery: how the scaffolding was erected, how the stone was transported from one bank to the other, how the scaffolding remained sound during the long building period. As a result, this bridge can be classed among the greatest architectural works of its time.

The Old Bridge stood for 427 years, until it was destroyed on November 9, 1993 during the Croat-Bosniak War.

A monumental project to rebuild the Old Bridge to the original design, and restore surrounding structures and historic neighborhoods was initiated in 1999 and mostly completed by Spring 2004. It was decided to build a bridge as similar as possible to the original, using the same technology and materials. The bridge was built with local materials. Tenelia stone from local quarries was used and Hungarian army divers recovered stone from the original bridge from the river below. Reconstruction commenced on 7 June 2001. The reconstructed bridge was inaugurated on 23 July 2004.

In July 2005, UNESCO finally inscribed the Old Bridge and its closest vicinity onto the World Heritage List.

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