Mostar War Ruins
- 
As in Sarajevo, there are still scars from the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s to be found in Mostar, even though they are getting fewer. I saw more traces of the war back on my first visit to Mostar in 2009; on my return visit in 2025, some of these buildings had disappeared or been touched up, but at least three significant war ruins were still in evidence.More background info: see under Bosnia and Herzegovina in general and under Mostar in particular.
What there is to see: The majority of the most dramatic-looking war ruins (see photos) I saw on my first visit in 2009 were located along or near what used to be the front line (‘line of contact’ in military lingo), mainly along the "Bulevar". This is still the dividing line between Bosniak Muslim and Catholic Croat Mostar.
Lots of reconstruction has been going on since the war, e.g. the grand old Grammar School building (‘Mostar Gymnasium’), which for years had stood as one of the most prominent war ruins, was refurbished many years ago – so much so, and painted in such garish colours, that it almost looks like a fake.
Dotted around were various other still totally ruined buildings, but they are becoming fewer. Some of those that were still left when I first visited in 2009 were completely riddled with bullet holes and at least internally partly collapsed. There are too many to describe in detail here – and it's unknown if or when they may get demolished altogether or be restored. When I was on my return visit to Mostar in April 2025, as part of a longer multi-day guided tour, we did not walk/drive down the Bulevar, so I couldn’t check in detail. But generally it seems that more and more of the ruins are no longer there or have been refurbished. Some still stand as empty shells as there are ownership disputes/uncertainties, as my guide explained.
One war ruin I genuinely hope they will retain and preserve in its gutted state is just to the west of the Bulevar on the corner of Kralja Zvonimira and Kneza Domagoja – you'll already see it towering over its environs from far away. It is, or rather was, a modern office building (a former bank apparently called “Staklena”), in fact of quite daring modernist proportions with a sharply pointed eastern edge which almost looks like the bow of a ship. The fact that this was a steel, glass and concrete modern high-rise (of eight storeys or so), but is now an empty shell, brings it home to the visitor how recent and indeed "modern" the war, which the building fell victim to, really was. In fact the building is also known as “sniper tower” as it was used for that purpose in the war during the siege of Mostar.
When I first visited Mostar in 2009, this ruin had a strange kind of alluring aesthetics. In particular its mirrored plate glass windows, just spiky colourful rings of shards, really looked quite striking, almost in an accidentally artful fashion (see photos below). For me, it was the absolute highlight of my first visit to Mostar. I was so awed by it that I found it difficult to drag myself away from the building and stop myself taking even more photos …
Unfortunately, in the interim, this ruin has suffered a lot from vandalism and looting. Most significantly perhaps is the fact that the bank building ruin, though it still stands, has meanwhile been stripped completely of the shattered glass windowpanes, all insulation material and inside almost all the metal has gone too, so only the concrete shell is left. The place is boarded up on the ground floor, so you can't enter, but peeking through gaps in the fence, newer street art can be spotted, so at least determined graffiti sprayers have managed to get inside and leave their mark. Yet more elaborate graffiti (murals really) are on the outer walls. One of the graffiti I saw had an image of the building’s shape in it and the legend “Staklena banka” – evidence that it must have its fans other than me! On my second visit I walked all around the building so I could also see the exposed staircase in the back. Climbing that would have been a bit of an adventure. Some people must have managed it though, as a couple of the photos you can find on Google Maps were taken from the roof! But I couldn’t make out any gaps in the fence myself (maybe those people used ladders to get in).
The guide I had on my revisit in 2025 reckoned that this bank ruin would probably not survive for much longer and would eventually be torn down. I for one would be very sad if that happened.
By the way, just a stone’s throw from the bank ruin is a small memorial for the Spanish UN Peacekeepers who formed the majority of foreign UN troops in Mostar at the time of the Bosnian war. A bit further south is an old Yugoslav-era spomenik that I also found damaged by the war when I first visited Mostar in 2009. Going by newer photos I’ve seen online in the meantime it seems to have been repaired.
Over on the east side of Mostar, you also still encounter various war ruins. One building that for me stood out was an ex-department store/shopping mall on a square off Ulica Maršala Tita about halfway between the Old Town and the train/bus station: it's a modern edifice whose façade consists of concrete slabs with what must have been intended as cheerful reliefs depicting animals and rural life – now it's derelict and the grey concrete has mortar holes in it … It may be somewhat less dramatic than the modern high-rise bank ruin in western Mostar, but I found it strangely symbolic of the whole weirdness of that war …
Even closer to the Old Town, just a few steps south of the eastern end of the top mainstream sight that is the Stari Most (‘Old Bridge’), is a very large war ruin, basically covering more than half a block, that is totally derelict, with trees growing inside, and it needs support beams to stay upright. I guess if nothing more is done this ruin will be doomed too …
Location: in various places within Mostar – see locators below.
Google Maps locators:
Former bank (“sniper tower”): [43.3442, 17.8061]
Ex-department store: [43.3441, 17.8133]
Bulevar: [43.3431, 17.8077]
Big ruin right by the Old Town: [43.3371, 17.8162]
Access and costs: fairly easy to find, but no (legal) access to the interiors. Free.
Details: All the locations are within walking distance from the centre of Mostar – just follow the map locators above.
Time required: a couple of hours should be plenty.
Combinations with other dark destinations: see under Mostar.
Combinations with non-dark destinations: see under Mostar.
