( dpa ) - The General Director of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura handed Tuesday a certificate in Sarajevo confirming the 16th Century bridge in the eastern Bosnian town of Gorazde has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Speaking at a ceremony organized by the Chairman of Bosnia's tripartite state Presidency Haris Silajdzic, Matsuura said the Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic Bridge over the Drina River in Visegrad was included in the list last year after UNESCO's World Heritage Committee "recognized its unquestionable, universal value."
The bridge in Visegrad, he said, presents an extraordinary example of classic Ottoman architecture and was a great construction achievement.
The bridge was named after one of the most famous Grand Viziers of the Turkish Empire, Mehmed-pasha Sokolovic (Sokollu Mehmed Pasha), who was born in Visegrad in 1505, and who ordered the construction of the bridge.
The stone bridge is 179 metres long, with a four-metre-wide road and 11 arches.
Described in the novel "Na Drini cuprija" (The Bridge on the Drina) by Bosnian writer Ivo Andric - who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1961 - the bridge has witnessed many troubles, including floods and wars.
Matsuura, who met late Monday with Bosnia's Prime Minister Nikola Spiric and the speakers of Bosnia's state parliament, also called on the officials and citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina to take care of the cultural and historic values in the country.
objects in Bosnia-Herzegovina already placed on UNESCO's World Heritage list include the Old Bridge in the southern city of Mostar and Mehmed Pasha Sokolovic Bridge in Visegrad. Seven more locations are hoped to be added soon.
Koichiro Matsuura is expected to visit the Old Bridge in Mostar on Wednesday.