At a ceremony June 7, 2001 marking the start of the reconstruction of the famed...

At a ceremony June 7, 2001 marking the start of the reconstruction of the famed Ottoman-era bridge destroyed in the Bosnian 1992-95 war, in the ethnically divided town of Mostar, two Mostar residents display a photograph of the Old Bridge before its destruction by Bosnian Croat tank shelling in November of 1993. The reconstruction of the bridge, which symbolised ethnic and cultural diversity of the southern town, is seen as a crucial step in the slow process of the town's unification as it remains divided between Bosnian Muslims and Croats. The reconstruction involves the Bosnian authorities, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the World Bank, the World Monument Fund and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.