A Brief History
On November 9, 1993, the Mostar Bridge, also known as the Stari Most, collapsed due to bombing by Croatian forces in the Croat–Bosniak War of 1992 to 1994. Located in Mostar, the capital of Herzegovina, the bridge was completed in 1566.
Digging Deeper
Too many times historical buildings, structures, or art works are lost because of wars. Today, we take a look at some of those precious items destroyed by human stupidity.
Dating back to 529 and mostly built in the 16th and 17th Centuries, the Allies reluctantly bombed the Monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy in 1944, suspecting the Germans were using it as a commanding base.
Coventry, England was one of the first cities bombed to rubble by airplanes in 1940, including its historic St. Michael’s Old Cathedral, built in the late 14th Century.
Before the US went to war with Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban ordered the non-Islamic Buddhas of Bamiyan statues destroyed.
Question for students (and subscribers): What other cultural treasure would you add to this list? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
(Note: Like some of the other cultural treasures damaged or destroyed by warfare, the Mostar Bridge has been rebuilt.)
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
McKay, Sinclair. The Fire and the Darkness: The Bombing of Dresden, 1945. St. Martin’s Press, 2020.
Parker, Matthew. Monte Cassino: The Hardest Fought Battle of World War II. Anchor, 2005.
The featured image in this article, a photograph by Banoviciminer at English Wikipedia of a stone from the Stari Most, has been released into the public domain worldwide by its author, Banoviciminer at English Wikipedia.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
