To the editor:
The photo of the old stone bridge at Mostar that accompanied Dan Ebener’s article in the Aug. 14 Catholic Messenger brought back memories for me. In 1989 my husband Francis and I were in Mostar as part of a trip to Medjugorje, and we walked across the bridge.
I am wondering what year Ebener’s photo was taken, and here’s why. That stone bridge was built in the 13th century, and we learned that the man who designed it was so afraid that it might not hold up and if so, the ruler would have him beheaded; so he hid for a length of time. He need not have worried. It was still there 600 years later when we walked over it. But just a few years later there was war there, and the bridge was destroyed by bombs. We saw it on TV.
It was replaced by a utilitarian flat steel bridge, because people had to have a way to cross the river. But the old bridge was a work of art and was even featured in National Geographic the year before we walked on it. There were (are?) plans to replace the old bridge with a stone replica, and I am wondering if that has been done, or is Ebener’s photo one that was taken before 1989? Just wondering.
Teresa Mottet
Fairfield, IA
