Bosnian officials mark placing the keystone in the middle of the 27-meter-long (86 foot) span

MOSTAR, Bosnia-Hercegovina, August 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Raising hopes for “bridging” the better divisions caused by a bloody ethnic war, the rebuilding of a famed Ottoman-era bridge in ethnically-divided Bosnian town of Mostar reached its final phase Friday, August 22, a decade after the town's historic symbol was destroyed.

The keystone was laid into the arch of the bridge, a UNESCO World Heritage site, at a ceremony attended by local politicians and both Croat and Muslim residents, raising hopes that its reconstruction could pave the way for reconciliation of the two communities, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"The old bridge will once again be the symbol of coexistence and a united Mostar," said mayor Hamdija Jahic.

The 16th-century stone bridge across the Neretva river, regarded as a masterpiece of Ottoman architecture, was destroyed by Bosnian Croat forces in November 1993 when the two communities were at war during the 1992-1995 conflict in Bosnia .

Reconstruction of the Stari Most (Old Bridge) from which the city takes its name is aimed at reviving Mostar's identity as a vibrant multi-ethnic community.

"The Old Bridge is much more than an edifice. It is a symbol, a bridge over which all our paths of reconciliation, of regaining trust and multi-ethnic tolerance are crossing," said former mayor Safet Orucevic.

The 20-million-dollar (18-million-euro) project supervised by UNESCO, the UN's cultural arm, to rebuild the bridge and several nearby buildings, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

However, the bridge will not be reopened until the spring of 2004, project spokesman Esad Humo told AFP.

Mostar's Croat and Muslim communities fought a bitter war for 11 months over 1993 and 1994 during Bosnia's war and the city still remains divided, with Muslims living on the eastern bank of the river and Croats on the west.

"I want to believe that this will be a new impetus in re-establishing inter-ethnic relations among the citizens of Mostar, and in Bosnia as well," Florijan Mickovic, a 65-year-old Croat sculptor, told AFP.

"The town is now being reborn, since without the Old Bridge Mostar was not the one we knew and loved, the one we used to present to the world."

The new bridge has been designed as an exact replica of the graceful 30-meter (100-foot) long and 20-meter (65-foot) high stone arch with towers on each side that had straddled the Neretva since 1566.

It is being built of stone taken from the same quarry used by its 16th-century Turkish designer when Bosnia was part of theOttoman empire .

All 1,088 stones used will be carved by hand and constructed using traditional tools and techniques gleaned through archeological work on the bridge's remains and by consulting historical archives throughout Europe .

The project was financed by the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the governments of France , Italy , the Netherlands , Turkey and Croatia .