Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Mostar

Franciscans arrived in Mostar in the 14th century. In the 15th century, they built a church and monastery. In 1583 invading Ottomans destroyed both church and monastery, executed the monks, and dumped their bodies into the Neretva River. The Catholic Church would not be re-established in Mostar until the mid-19th century.

In 1859, Sultan Abdulmejid I published a decree giving Christians religious freedom. The Franciscans were back. The monks invited Italian architect Matteo Lorenzoni to design a project for the church. Local workers built the walls using oak trunks. Construction was finished in 1875. By 1896 the Church and Monastery had arisen in Mostar.

The religious complex was reconstructed twice. The first time was after the bombing of World War II. The second came after the end of the civil war in 1995. The church was rebuilt with the tallest bell tower in southeastern Europe. The bell tower, called the Peace Bell Tower, is near the Radobolja creek, by the Hum River. Today the church and its Bell Tower are giving locals and tourists a magnificent bird’s-eye view over Mostar.