During our wanderings around Mostar, Jonathan and I visited the Franciscan Church of Saints Peter and Paul, where the modern interior proved substantially more colourful than I had expected. The enormous mosaic covering the apse was completed in 2021 and extends across more than 600 square metres. At its centre is the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. The work was installed in just fourteen days by a team of 24 artists, which rather exposes my continued inability to put up a single picture successfully. I said at the time I was there that this was one of the most beautiful church installations I had ever seen, and it remains a genuinely impressive sight.
Looking back towards the entrance reveals the scale of the nave, the organ above the doors and the brighter orange artwork running beneath the upper windows. The original church was constructed under Ottoman rule, with its foundation stone laid in 1866 and the building completed six years later. A Franciscan monastery followed during the 1890s, but the church was destroyed by shelling in May 1992 during the Bosnian War. The new church has an unmistakably contemporary appearance, but its extensive biblical imagery ensures that it remains firmly connected to the traditions of the building it replaced.
The central view towards the sanctuary brings together the church’s pale stone, simple wooden seating and extensive mosaic decoration. It’s open, bright and feels functional.
The baptismal area stands near the entrance and looks directly along the nave towards the image of Mary and Jesus. Outside, the church is dominated by its 107-metre bell tower, the tallest in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the interior was the more memorable element for me. This really was a striking church and the most memorable from our Balkans trip and even I remained quietly impressed for several minutes, which perhaps represented a minor miracle of its own. And more in the next post about a damaged memorial in the church.