Abstract
Heritage reconstruction continues to be deeply embedded in contemporary identity politics in Mostar even though the international community and local Croat and Bosniak leaders agree that the city should be multicultural and though all parties feel that their heritage reconstruction, new construction, and memorial projects contribute to this multiculturalism. Heritage sites now symbolically reinforce different understandings of the multicultural built environment. Recent projects in Mostar simultaneously contribute to the acceptance of shared space as well as to the perpetuation of the tensions that fuelled the conflict, as some suggest a common or shared heritage while others accentuate differences. This chapter explores cultural, religious, and public institutional heritage projects in postwar Mostar, contextualizing the Old Bridge within its complicated city. It argues a perceived ‘double minority’ syndrome has led to different understandings of multiculturalism by Mostar’s communities and thus to continued conflict in the city’s built environment.
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Makaš, E.G. (2021). Heritage Reconstruction in Mostar: Minorities and Multiculturalism in Post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina. In: Bădescu, G., Baillie, B., Mazzucchelli, F. (eds) Transforming Heritage in the Former Yugoslavia. Palgrave Studies in Cultural Heritage and Conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76401-2_4
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