The decaying Ottoman bridge on Bosnia's River Drina at Visegrad is soon to be restored, but the community whose life around it was chronicled in an epic novel is unlikely to be the same again.
Hundreds of Bosnian Muslims made an emotional visit to the historic town on Saturday to remember the killing there of 3,000 relatives and friends by Bosnian Serb and Serbian paramilitaries at the outbreak of Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
They threw a rose for each of the victims from the terrace on the bridge's central part, a favourite place in peacetime for meeting, chatting and flirting that became the site of mass executions in the spring of 1992.
"I would rather throw myself from this bridge," said Nizija Hecimovic, 77 as she wept for her son, who was taken from their home by paramilitaries, and her brother, who was thrown from the bridge and shot at in the water.
"I will never find peace until their bodies are found." This modern-day conflict broke the 500-year thread of Muslim-Christian co-existence in Bosnia, as immortalised by writer Ivo Andric in "The Bridge on the Drina".
His epic of their sometimes strained yet centuries-long and unbroken life together centred on the elegant structure of 11 curved arches in pale stone, and earned him a Nobel prize. Co-existence endured Turkish and Austro-Hungarian rule, followed by the Yugoslav kingdom and World War Two, only to be shattered in the 1990s break-up of socialist Yugoslavia, when deep hatreds exploded to destroy 150,000 lives and uproot millions.
Bad times have taken their toll on the bridge too. It was built on the orders of Grand Vizier Mehmed pasha Sokolovic, who was born nearby as a Serb but taken away to be raised as a Muslim and went on to serve three Turkish sultans.
It has been more fortunate than Bosnia's other famous bridge, the Old Bridge in the southern town of Mostar, which was destroyed by Bosnian Croat artillery in 1993 and rebuilt three years ago.
But neglect, the high levels of water needed to serve two hydro-electric dams on the Drina, and car and truck traffic on a bridge made for pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages have all eroded pillars and undermined the stability of the structure.
Visegrad's bridge is on the list of the world's threatened monuments but better days now lie ahead after Bosnia, Turkey and the local council on Thursday agreed to repair it, including restoring the greyish stone to its original whiteness.
Next month it could also be included on the UN educational, cultural and scientific organisation's (UNESCO) list of world heritage sites with "universal value", the chairman of Bosnia's commission for national monuments said.
"The situation is difficult but I want to believe that UNESCO's arrival could contribute to the town's opening and the return of the people," said historian Dubravko Lovrenovic.
Muslims made up two-thirds of Visegrad's 21,000 people before the war, but only a few hundred have returned to their homes in the poor, drab town, some 100 km (60 miles) north-east of Sarajevo and close to the border with Serbia.
It was long regarded as a stronghold of hardline nationalists and a safe haven for war criminals. The security situation has improved since several of them were arrested.
Still, deputy mayor Nedzad Muhic, an ethnic Muslim, says it will take another 50 years for Visegrad to become again what it was because a lack of reconstruction assistance or employment possibilities are keeping refugees from returning. "As it is now, it is no good to anyone," he said.
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