Balancing on the slippery, shimmering stones of the breathtaking bridge, with the chilly waters of the Neretva River glistening far under, Amir Hanic pokes his nostril up and takes his final breath. With out trying up or down, solely straight forward, he leaps from the bridge, his arms and ft stiff just like the outstretched wings of a swooping fowl.
His descent lasts solely a few seconds, however the viewers surrounding him on the bridge has time to exclaim a collective “Ooh!” — a combination of admiration and fright. Amir disappears beneath the floor, then, reappearing, rapidly swims again to shore, as if nothing had occurred. Inside moments, he’s climbing again as much as the bridge.
Along with his plunge within the southern Bosnian metropolis of Mostar, Amir and his associates from the native diving membership are honoring a practice that goes again some 400 years — “to the Center Ages, in the course of the Ottoman period,” says Amir, wiping his face with a towel. “We’re defending our cultural heritage and protecting the passage over the bridge clear.”
“We’re the guardians of the Mostar Bridge,” he provides.
The primary recorded dive from the bridge in Mostar — generally known as the Outdated Bridge, or Stari Most — occurred within the seventeenth century, round 100 years after its building. Since 1968, the town has held an annual summer time diving competitors, which attracts individuals from all around the world.
Braving the drop of round 75 ft (it varies with the peak of the river), this excessive stunt requires a wholesome dose of braveness. However as Amir ascends from the river to the bridge, strolling previous the traditional stone stairs, the picturesque streets, the backdrop of musicians within the bazaar, he has one other job. With a hat in his hand, he collects donations from the gang of onlookers.
“I’m executed with diving at this time,” he exclaims, nonetheless balancing on the sting of the bridge — however this time extending his arm towards the gang. “Now I’ve to lift some cash for our membership.”
After I traveled to Bosnia with the photographer Alessio Mamo in July 2021, a lot of our journey occurred within the shadow of the violence that tore by the area within the Nineties, when, as Yugoslavia broke aside, warfare erupted between three ethnonationalist teams: Orthodox Christian Serbs, Catholic Croats and Bosniaks, or Bosnian Muslims.
Our first vacation spot was the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial, the place we met a younger era of Bosnians, Serbians, Kosovars, Montenegrins and Macedonians who commemorated the brutal killing of about 8,000 Muslim males and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995.
We then drove to Sarajevo, the capital, and to Mostar, the bridge metropolis.
Inside the final yr, many Bosnians have feared that the nation was as soon as once more on the brink of being torn apart, although imminent fears have now calmed. Nonetheless, the bridge divers in Mostar supply a welcome sense of distraction and wonderment. I had beforehand seen them featured in a documentary, nevertheless it was solely after arriving on the stunning bridge that I might absolutely comprehend its architectural splendor and the worth — and audacity — of the diving custom.
When the bridge was destroyed by relentless Croat shelling in 1993, the assault was a blow to the guts of the Bosnian Muslim tradition, to which most of the divers belong. As a manner of constant their traditions, a bunch of the divers used a makeshift gangway as a replacement platform.
Amir, who was 24 after I met him, was not even born then. However one other of the lads within the diving membership, Admir Delic, was 18 years outdated on the time, and, seeing his friends diving from the platform, he felt compelled to affix them — regardless of the dangers.
“It was far more tough and harmful to dive from the gangway,” Admir tells me. “You needed to take a run-up, with the chance of getting harm.” However even at this time, each dive continues to be a problem, he says, requiring the utmost focus.
There are days when Admir dives as many as 10 or 12 occasions, he says, within the peak vacationer season, between July and August. I converse with him throughout his break, whereas he sips espresso within the membership’s lounge. Behind him on the wall are work and footage of the bridge in several historic eras, and of divers throughout their marvelous feats.
“As a younger man from Mostar, I virtually felt obliged to dive,” he says. “Eventually, all of us males needed to do it, like a ceremony of passage. I’m amongst those that by no means stopped. It’s my job.”
Right now’s Outdated Bridge is a duplicate. Its reconstruction, which made use of Ottoman-era methods, was accomplished in 2004 — “an emblem of reconciliation, worldwide co-operation and of the coexistence of numerous cultural, ethnic and spiritual communities,” in line with its entry on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Because the sundown approaches, it’s time for Admir’s final dive, earlier than he returns dwelling to his household. Amir, in the meantime, has already retired for the day. The younger guardian, having but once more mustered the braveness to dive, sits in a bar listening to some music, enjoyable amid the bustle of a bunch of vacationers.
Marta Bellingreri is an Italian researcher and reporter. You’ll be able to comply with her work on Instagram and Twitter.
Alessio Mamo is an Italian photojournalist primarily based in Catania, Sicily. You’ll be able to comply with his work on Instagram and Twitter.
