The bridge is rebuilt

Stari Most, in Mostar, Bosnia was a symbol of a rich culture which stretched back for centuries. Built by the Ottoman (Turk) empire, it was a feat of architecture, and the site of an annual diving festival for men who wanted to attempt it (30m off the surface of this deep, mountain river? No thank you!).

In 1993, the bridge was subject to several bomb strikes and collapsed into the river. Even those not aware of the spiritual significance were astounded at the toll this ethnic hatred-fuelled war had taken.

My husband and I went there on a missionary trip and were blown away by the damage the war had inflicted. I think I can imagine what Coventry or Dresden looked like in World War Two! I was not prepared for the emotional impact of the old city. Row after row of bombed out shells of buildings were all that was left. Rubble had collected in what had been homes, businesses and tourist attractions.

The spirit of the land had raged.

We walked across a swing bridge made from steel wires and wood. At the base of the Stari Most was a platform, and gradually they were hauling bricks and boulders out of the river, salvaging what remained of the old structure.

The European Union, UNESCO and other United Nations force were charged with the job of stepping in to clean it all up and "re-stabilize" this broken nation. What a job! It was a large scale disaster relief and restructuring operation, almost completely funded from other nations.

In 2004, the new bridge was opened, and YouTube is full of videos of young men making their death defying dives once again.

What a picture!

The new bridge is not what it was. It is stronger, it is new. But it looks just like the old one. This was written on the LGA website, the German engineering firm that oversaw the project.

Destroyed by shelling in the civil war of 1993 and reconstructed in her original beauty: the famous Old Bridge of Mostar, Stari Most, reopens offically on the 23rd of July 2004.
One of the most prestigious and ambitious UNESCO-Projects: to copy a historic masterpiece by using adequate materials and forgotten technologies, to build a replica of a lost heritage, is a success.

The LGA has discovered the secrets of the ancient materials and helped to re-enact Ottoman building techniques. Deep in the masonry, electronic sensors are guards of the structure. Experts in Nuremberg keep an eye on the monitoring data relevant to the safety.

[The bridge has ] 28 meters of span. About 4 m wide and nearly 19 meters above the Neretva river, the New Stari Most has been now awakened to its unforgotten original beauty in a perfect copy. After a difficult reconstruction procedure the bold vault [of the arc of the bridge] now closes one of the most visible wounds of the beautiful town.

So, what's the point to all this information?

This is a time to step up out of the ruins, to begin to clear the rubble and prepare for rebuilding. My life will be rebuilt with new materials, fresh paint. It will look the same from the outside, but it will be stronger, and completely new. The new will incorporate the old in spirit and in formation. All that I was has informed all that I will be when this process is complete.

This is not to say that grieving is over. The pain of loss is carried in the fabric of the new structure as well, for it will never be what it was nor what I hoped for.

But dreams can shift, and new dreams can arise from the rubble.

Awake, awake Zion, clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendour, Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again.
Shake off the dust, rise up, sit enthroned Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck, Daughter Zion, now captive.
Isaiah 52:1-2