Showing the Magaric Bridge in the foreground. The iconic building was hit by a mortar and burned down during the Bosnian Serb siege of the city in 1992. Sarajevo's city hall - housing the national library - has been re-opened - 22 years after it was destroyed by shelling during the Bosnian War on. The city hall - which was first opened in 1896 - was converted into the national library in 1949.
St. Blaise Church was originally 14th-century Romanesque, but this was badly damaged in the 1667 earthquake and finally destroyed by a fire in 1706. The church was rebuilt in its present baroque style between 1706 and 1714.
The 'Pearl of the Adriatic', situated on the Dalmatian coast, became an important Mediterranean sea power from the 13th century onwards. Although severely damaged by an earthquake in 1667, Dubrovnik managed to preserve its beautiful Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque churches, monasteries, palaces and fountains. Damaged again in the 1990s by armed conflict, it is now the focus of a major restoration programme co-ordinated by UNESCO.
