A section of the Alajbegović House collapsed during the night from Saturday to Sunday onto three parked vehicles on Marshal Tito Street, reopening the issue of 57 war-devastated buildings in the city whose restoration has been stalled for years.
During the night from Saturday to Sunday, a section of the wall of the Alajbegović House in Mostar collapsed onto three vehicles parked on Marshal Tito Street, in the immediate vicinity of the Municipal Court. The vehicles sustained significant material damage, and Mostar firefighters had to be dispatched to the scene to remove the debris and free the cars.
This is not the first time that parts of the once-imposing building have fallen onto public space. In June of this year, the last preserved part of the house-its gate, or courtyard entrance-collapsed, leaving very little of the structure standing. As early as 2016, after heavy rains, the house almost completely caved in, and of the former building, recognizable for its distinctive wooden openings and architecture from the transition period between Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian rule, only the gate and courtyard walls largely remained.
The Alajbegović House is owned by the City of Mostar and female descendants of the Alajbegović family around the world. Despite the common belief that it is a protected structure, it is not included in the list of buildings covered by the decision declaring Mostar's historic urban area a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The house was not directly affected by wartime destruction, but after the war it was left abandoned and neglected.
For many years, the state of ruined buildings in Mostar has been one of the city's main problems. Ahead of the 2020 local elections, political parties promised to restore these structures, but according to information published by Bljesak.info, not a single one of the 57 recorded war-damaged buildings has been fully restored. Most of them are located precisely on Tito Street, where this latest collapse occurred.
Mostar City Council President Đani Rahimić previously stated that city authorities had analyzed the property status of each ruined building but were encountering numerous legal and administrative obstacles. Mostar Mayor Mario Kordić has warned that some of the buildings are not owned by the City and that unresolved property-legal relations hinder restoration.
"When we request permits, we run into a decision banning the disposal and trading of state property. It's a rather schizophrenic and frustrating situation. We're going building by building, but I can't give you the good news that we'll see serious progress until certain things are resolved, and those are not in our hands," Kordić said earlier.
Although the house is not on the official list of national monuments, its historical significance and location in the very heart of Mostar, opposite the Municipal Court, make this collapse an additional warning of the safety risks that neglected buildings pose to citizens and their property.
