IRCICA, Mostar City Council and the Islamic Community (Majlis) Council of Mostar, with the contributions of Konya Municipality, have jointly organized the “Mostar 2024 Workshop and Symposium” on 15-22 July 2024. The program was part of the 20th anniversary commemoration of the reconstruction of Mostar Old City and the famous Mostar Old Bridge.
The workshop comprised lectures on the history and cultural heritage of Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina, many field visits to sites and monuments in and around Mostar and learning about the restoration and conservation of architectural heritage in general and in the local context. The urban heritage of Mostar, particularly the Old Bridge and the Old City, were highlighted from various viewpoints, including infrastructural and architectural interventions and tourism management. Professors and students from universities in Europe, USA and Türkiye participated in the program.
The program culminated in the symposium, which was opened on 22 July 2024 with the addresses of IRCICA Director General Prof. Mahmud Erol Kılıç, the Mostar City Council President Mr. Salem Marić, and the Islamic Community Council President Mr. Dzafer Alić. Then, an overview of the workshop was given by four professors, followed by students’ presentations about studies conducted during the workshop on specific structures and monuments. The symposium continued with international scholars’ talks about reconstruction processes in Mostar and Bosnia and Herzegovina; the speakers were the professors Attilio Petruccioli, Luca Orlandi, Emily Makaš, Adis Zilić, Haris Desrvisević, Mehmet Zeki İbrahimgil, Amra Hadzimuhamedović. In his closing remarks of the symposium and the workshop, the Chief of IRCICA’s Architectural Heritage Section, Dr. Alidost Ertuğrul recapitulated the salient features and outcomes of the program.
Twenty years ago, IRCICA’s well-known ten-year program of annual architectural studies and workshops titled “Mostar 2004” was finalized concurrently with the high-level international ceremony marking the re-opening of the Old Bridge of Mostar on 22 July 2004. Twenty years later, the “Mostar 2024” program represented a significant re-start for IRCICA’s activities in this field.
