Visegrád

The bridge on the Drina (around 1890)

Višegrad (Serbian Cyrillic: Вишеград) is a town in eastern portion of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice in Serbia. It is administratively part of Republika Srpska.

According to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1931 population census, the plurality in the district was held by Orthodox Serbs 48.62%.

In the census of 1991, the municipality of Višegrad had 21,199 residents, of which there were 62.81% Bosniaks, 32.85% Serbs, 1.48% Yugoslavs, 0.17% Croats and 2.69% others. The town of Višegrad itself had 11,668 inhabitants, 64% Bosniaks, 29% Serbs, 3% Yugoslavs and 5% others.

Višegrad is most famous for its portrayal in the book, The Bridge on the Drina (Na Drini Ćuprija or На Дрини Ћуприја), by Bosnian Nobel Prize winning author Ivo Andrić.

The nearby Orthodox village of Sokolovići is the birthplace of one of the greatest Ottoman Grand Viziers, a Serbian convert to Islam by the name of Mehmed Paša Sokolović.

The town was also the scene of some of the initial fighting of the war in Bosnia from 1992-1995. The Bosniak population of the town was subsequently expelled and thousands of them were murdered during this process of ethnical clensing. See also: Vilina Vlas

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