), Šeher-Ćehaja Bridge, Careva ćuprija, Latin Bridge (aka Principov most), Ćumurija Bridge,

Drvenija Bridge The Drvenija Bridge is a bridge located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bridge was built during the Austro-Hungarian reign in 1898 and crosses the river Miljacka ), Šeher-Ćehaja Bridge, Careva ćuprija, Latin Bridge (aka Principov ...

Čobanija Bridge The Čobanija Bridge is an iron bridge, located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, which crosses the River Miljacka ), Šeher-Ćehaja Bridge, Careva ćuprija, Latin Bridge (aka Principov most), Ćumurija Bridge, Drvenija Bridge, Čobanija Bri ...

Skenderija Bridge The Skenderija Bridge (also called Ajfel or Ajfelov most) is a footbridge located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina opposite the Skenderija Centre which crosses the River Miljacka. It was designed by Gustave Eiffel. The bridge is home to a small ...

(aka Ajfelov most), Suada and Olga bridge (aka Vrbanja most) , custom_label = , custom_data = , extra = The Miljacka (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, t ...

: Миљацка) is a river in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

that passes through

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

. Numerous city bridges have been built to cross it.

Characteristics

The Miljacka river originates from the confluence of the Paljanska Miljacka and Mokranjska Miljacka rivers. The Miljacka is a rather small river, only long from the confluence, or and depending on source ( Pale or Mokro). By the time this tributary flows into the Bosna river in

, it has an average discharge of 5.7 m³/s. The Miljacka river flows from east to west in a general direction through the city. The Bosna is a right tributary of the Sava River, with its mouth in

Bosanski Šamac Bosnian may refer to: *Anything related to the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina or its inhabitants *Anything related to Bosnia (region) or its inhabitants * Bosniaks, an ethnic group mainly inhabiting Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of three constit ...

. That river in turn flows into the

Danube River The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

, which goes southeast and enters the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

chiefly in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Paljanska Miljacka

The Paljanska Miljacka, in length, begins at Gornje Pale, eastward in the town of Pale, under the slopes of

Jahorina Jahorina ( sr-Cyrl, Јахорина, ) is a mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, located on the tripoint of the municipalities of Pale, Trnovo, Republika Srpska and Trnovo, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Part of the Dinaric Alps, it borde ...

, near Begovina), at an elevation of .

Mokranjska Miljacka

The Mokranjska Miljacka, in length, springs from a large cave, yet to be fully explored, near the village of Kadino Selo at an elevation of near the base of Romanija mountain.

Mokranjska Miljacka cave

The cave at the spring of Mokranjska Miljacka, located about from the village of Mokro, near Pale, is officially the longest cave in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of August 2015, the length of mapped caverns was . The Miljacka runs out of the cave practically as an underground flow, a

subterranean river A subterranean river is a river that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground surface – one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth. It is distinct from an aquifer, which may flow like a river but is contained within a per ...

, where its temperature is measured as low as 5 degrees and temperature of air as low as 8 degrees Celsius. The exact location of the cave is not yet mapped for the public, but local authorities have released a map which can be used to find its location, as well as a gallery of discoveries within the cave. A new species of spiders, named ''Nemanela Lade'' ("Lada's Little Monster" for its discoverer, Dr. Lada Lukić-Bilela from the Institute for Genetic Technology,

), has been found here. Also found are at least five more species of spider, as well as certain species of bats. A skeleton head of a

cave bear The cave bear (''Ursus spelaeus'') is a prehistoric species of bear that lived in Europe and Asia during the Pleistocene and became extinct about 24,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum. Both the word "cave" and the scientific name ' ...

has also been found at the location.

Paleontological Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of foss ...

finds, traces of human habitation, stalactites and

stalagmites A stalagmite (, ; from the Greek , from , "dropping, trickling") is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically co ...

, as well as pisolite rocks, the river Miljacka wellspring, all makes this cave among most valuable speleological objects in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Researchers believe to have discovered bubbles of air, a possible sign of tectonic activity.

Environment

Because of its poor discharge, the Miljacka is known for its peculiar smell and brown waters. Miljacka river cascades, which regulate the waterbed and enrich the water with oxygen, trap plastic scraps, stranded balls, car tires, and various other waste. The main collector that drains fecal matter is parallel to the flow of the river up to its mouth at the river Bosna. The sewer system is not connected to the main collector, causing leakage of fecal matter directly into the waters of the Miljacka in several places. During the Bosnian War, water treatment was stopped and plant equipment was looted, preventing the local government from dealing with the issue. Estimates of the cost to repair the wastewater plant range from 50 to 60 million euros. In April 2015, a project called ''Čista rijeka Miljacka'' (Clean river Miljacka) was presented. The aim of the project was to bring the river status to category A, which would make the water clean enough for swimming. In August 2015, the city of Sarajevo signed a contract with ER Project d.o.o. company to clean up 48 river cascades from Šeher-Ćehaja bridge to Dolac Malta suburb bridge.

Floods of 2014

The river swelled almost to the level of city bridges during the

2014 Southeast Europe floods Between 13 and 18 May 2014 a low-pressure cyclone designated ''Tamara'' and ''Yvette'' affected a large area of Southeastern and Central Europe, causing floods and landslides. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered the greatest damage, as the ...

, which brought significant flooding to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Floods of 2021

The Miljacka was close to submerging some bridges in Sarajevo during the

2021 Bosnia and Herzegovina floods Between 4 and 11 November 2021, heavy rainfall resulted in widespread flash flooding in many places across Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Federal Hydrometereological Institute issued a red warning on 5 November 2021 for flooding. There was great m ...

Bridges

There are over a dozen bridges over the river Miljacka. Some of the better known ones are: *

Goat's Bridge The Goat's Bridge ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Kozija ćuprija'' / Козја ћуприја) is a large stone bridge that crosses the Miljacka river to the east of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. History It was built by the Ottomans in ...

( bs, "Kozija Ćuprija") * Šeher-Ćehaja Bridge * Careva ćuprija * Latin Bridge (also known as "''Principov most''", namesake of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassin

Gavrilo Princip Gavrilo Princip ( sr-Cyrl, Гаврило Принцип, ; 25 July 189428 April 1918) was a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Pr ...

). The assassination carried out by Princip, which led to

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, took place at the entrance on this bridge. Gavrilo's co-conspirator

Nedeljko Čabrinović Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range while ...

, another member of the Bosnia-Herzegovinian Mlada Bosna movement, jumped into the river Miljacka from the bridge, seconds after throwing a grenade toward the archduke's car. He intended to hide below the bridge so that he could take and swallow a

cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...

powder wrapped into a piece of paper. But the poison got so wet from the fall into the shallow Miljacka (only deep) that it dissolved but lost its toxicity. Čabrinović was dragged alive from the river and arrested. * Ćumurija Bridge *

* Festina lente bridge *

(a.k.a. "''Ajfelov most''") * Suada and Olga bridge (a.k.a. "''Vrbanja most''") * Bosmal Bridge (

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

n-Bosnian Friendship Bridge), a.k.a. "''Malezijski most''" and "''Bosmalov most''". * and several unnamed modern bridges.

Diving

Bentbaša Cliff Diving is a sport organized at location Bentbaša dam every summer at the eastern entrance into the city of Sarajevo (in close proximity to Vijećnica, a library and former City Hall). The diving location water depth is at 3.5 to 4.4 meters depending time of month. Support to this sport in Sarajevo was given by

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, established in 2009 and created by Red Bull, is an annual international series of cliff diving events in which a limited number of competitors determine the Cliff Diving World Series winner. Divers j ...

champion Rhiannan Iffland and competitor Jonathan Paredes who attended the 2019 edition. Past champions of the event: * 2019 - Dragan Milnović (head jump) / Aleš Karničnik (high jump) * 2018 - Igor Arsenić from Banja Luka * 2017 - N/A * 2016 - N/A * 2015 - Dino Bajrić from Sarajevo

Image gallery

Миљацка - извор 1.jpg, Paljanska Miljacka source at Gornje Pale, under the slopes of

Fishing on Miljacka river 01.JPG, Fishing on Dariva (Miljacka Canyon between Bentbaša and

) Sarajevo Wilsons-Promenade 2013-10-18.jpg, Wilson's Promenade, named after Thomas Woodrow Wilson The Bridge, site of the beginning of world war I.jpg, The Latin Bridge was the site of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand Bentbaša Miljacka river.JPG, Bentbaša dam (Cliff Diving location) Vijecnica (41626036484).jpg, Library and City Hall

Popular culture

A number of popular local songs were sung about Miljacka river, including " Halid Bešlić - Miljacka" and " Himzo Polovina - Kad ja pođoh na Bembašu".

References

External links

* {{Hydrography of Bosnia and Herzegovina Geography of Sarajevo Rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina *Miljacka Subterranean rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Subterranean rivers of Sarajevo