MOSTAR: Almost ten years after it was destroyed during the 1992-1995 Bosnia-Herzegovina conflict, the famous Old Bridge in the southern city of Mostar is going through the final phase of its renaissance.

Construction workers from Croatia, Turkey and Bosnia on Friday completed the reconstruction of the main bridge’s arch, finishing the most delicate phase of the reconstruction which started a year ago.

A few hundred people gathered on both banks of the River Neretva, which has served as a natural border between Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the still ethnically divided city, to attend Friday’s ceremony when the keystone was lifted into place.

Expressing his wishes that the reconstruction of the Old Bridge would symbolically renew good relations between Mostar’s Muslim and Croat neighbours, the city’s mayor Hamdija laid the final 456th stone in the centre of the bridge’s 27-metre arch.

The reconstruction project was designed to pay respect to the original shape of the Old Bridge, said project manager Tihomir Rozic.

The Old Bridge (Stari Most), which lends its name to the town of Mostar, was built in 1566 by the Turkish architect Hajrudin when the region was part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Old Bridge is a symbol of Mostar and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Respected for its priceless historical, cultural and architectural value, it has been placed under the protection of the UNESCO.

That fact did not stop Bosnian Croat troops destroying the monument on Nov 9, 1993 when Bosnian Croat troops brought tanks close to the Old Bridge and shelled one of its supports.—dpa