Before the Ottoman conquests, the city of Mostar had several Roman Catholic churches, and the last one was torn down together with the convent - the church of St Anthony of Padua - in 1563. This brought about the time of heavy persecutions of the Roman Catholics in the town. In 1862, following more than three centuries of persecutions, at the request of Bishop friar Rafa Barišić and at the behest of his friend - famed Omer-pasha Latas - the Ottoman emperor Abdulaziz gave away Ali-pasha Rizvanbegović's garden in Zahum, located at the bifurcation of the river Radobolja, for the construction of the Catholic church.
With the laying of the corner stone on 7 March 1866, the construction of the church of St Peter and Paul began and lasted for six years. Italian friar Matteo Lorenzoni was the architect. Above the main portal, under the large rose window, stands the inscription:
TO THE ALMIGHTY GOD AND ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL, THIS CHURCH WAS BUILT. THE EMPEROR FROM ISTANBUL WAS VERY KIND. HE GAVE A PLEASANT PLACE FOR CONSTRUCTION. 50 SACKS OF COINS WERE GIVEN AND THE POOR PEOPLE ALSO CONTRIBUTED A LITTLE. THE REMAINING COSTS WHICH WERE NOT LITTLE
WERE PAID BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES ON THE INITIATIVE OF THE FRANCISCAN BROTHERS AND THE BISHOP. P. G. 1866
The Church survived the First and the Second World War - during the latter it was bombed. In 1987, friars reconstructed it further to authentic design plans. In the night of 9 May 1992, the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) burned and destroyed the church. With heavy hearts, the friars removed the rubble and built a crypt in that place in 1995, and a new church further to the project made by architect Davor Smoljan. The construction of the church and the 107,2 m-tall belltower was led by the abbot friar Ivan Ševo. The church is still under construction, and the interior is painted in frescoes and mosaics by world renowned artist and Jesuit father Ivan Marko Rupnik.
(Friar Ante Marić)
