Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina

A couple of swap cards to finish off for today, the first one comes from Bosnia and Herzegovina.



Bihać is a city and municipality on the river Una in the north-western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina and has a population of around 45,500. The town was first mentioned as early as 1260 as property of a church in Topusko, Croatia in a document by the Hungarian-Croatian king Bela IV, and became a free city in 1262. Bihać was the temporary capital of the Croatian Kingdom. During World War II, Bihać, along with the rest of Bosnia, was a part of the Independent State of Croatia. The city also served as headquarters for the Communist army of Josip Broz Tito, the seat of the first AVNOJ session in 1942 and the center of the anti-fascist resistance. As such, it became a target of the occupying powers and the Germans retook it in 1943 and held it until 1945 and their final defeat.

Bihać suffered the destruction of many buildings during the recent Bosnian War, when the area around the city was under siege by the Bosnian Serb forces for over three years, until the summer of 1995 when the siege was broken in the beginning of the Croats' Operation Storm conjoined with Bosnian forces under General Atif Dudaković.

The city and the region are now becoming a viable tourist destination for its natural beauty. The Una river valley where Bihać is situated provides the best route from Zagreb to Dalmatia so the traffic position is also favorable. There's also a yearly regatta held on the Una, as well as the Bihać Summer theatrical event.



The stamps on this card are very nice, I couldn't find any info on them though unfortunately. EDIT: Ana told me both stamps are definitives from a set of 5 stamps representing domestic animals, issued in January 2007...a goat and a cat are here :)