Kotor Varos

Kotor Varoš is a town and municipality in northwestern Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The city was first mentioned in the 10th century, when it was called Kotor. Varoš, added later, means "town" in Hungarian (város). The town has great historic importance to Bosniaks, Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs. During the Bosnian War numerous religious and cultural monuments and landmarks were destroyed by various Serb paramilitary groups, such as the Croatian Roman Catholic Church in the centre of the town.

Also notable destruction was found in the southern "Čarsija" region of the town where nearly every single house was destroyed. Bosnian Serb-dominated parts of the town were mainly unaffected by the conflict. It is also important to note that due to the proximity (38 km) of Kotor Varoš to Banja Luka and that the city's post-war population demographic percentages were strongly impacted by this.