The original bridge was built in the 1500s by skilled craftsmen called nišandžije. They used a special recipe for the mortar — a thick paste that holds the stones together — that included egg whites and very fine stone dust. It took nine years to finish and amazed everyone who saw it when it opened.
Today the bridge is a gathering place for the whole city. Every summer, young men from Mostar take part in a famous diving competition, leaping from the top of the arch — about 21 metres above the water — into the Neretva below. Training to dive from Stari Most is a local tradition that has been passed down for generations.
The two sides of the bridge are connected by a cobblestone street lined with craft workshops, coffee houses, and stalls selling hand-beaten copper jugs, colourful glass lamps, and carved wooden boxes. Walking across feels like stepping into a very old marketplace that never stopped working.
The bridge and the old city around it are on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which means the whole world agrees they are special and worth looking after. Visitors come from almost every country on Earth to see its reflection shimmering in the turquoise water below.