GAZI HÜSREV-BEY MOSQUE

Built in 1530-1531, this mosque (Gazi Husrev-Begova Džamija) is the center of the Sunni community in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Of the three great Ottoman mosques in the country, along with those in Foča and Banja Luka, it is the only one to have survived the complete destruction during the last war. We owe it to the second founder of Sarajevo, Gazi Hüsrev Bey, governor of Bosnia from 1522 to 1544. A great warlord, he advanced the frontier of the Ottoman Empire to the north and west at the expense of the Habsburgs and the Venetians. He was also a builder who, around the mosque, built a vast complex that included an imaret (soup kitchen), a medersa, two caravanserais (Morića Han and Tašli Han), a tekké halveti and a covered market. In a more or less authentic form, all these buildings still exist except for the Tašli Han (visible ruins between the bezistan and the Europe Hotel). The design of the mosque itself was entrusted to Acem Ali, general architect of the Ottoman Empire who supervised the construction of the Topkapı Palace in Constantinople. We find here the "Acem Ali style", both classical Ottoman and Persian, especially in the multi-dome system, unique in Bosnia. The largest dome reaches 13 m in diameter and 26 m in height, while the minaret rises to 45 m in height.

Decoration erased, then repainted. The mosque suffered extensive damage during the 1992-1996 siege. The renovation, completed in 2000, was financed by Syria and Saudi Arabia. It was highly criticized, since the rich interior decorations, very colorful and considered ostentatious by the Wahhabi patrons, were covered with white paint. Shortly after 2000, the interior space was repainted with calligraphic and geometric patterns inspired by the original 16th century decoration. The enclosed courtyard (harem) includes a cemetery (behind the mosque), a hot water fountain (to the right of the entrance on Sarači Street) and a cold water fountain (in the center of the courtyard), a stewardship house for the nearby clock tower (behind the mosque), the mausoleums of Gazi Hüsrev and Ottoman general Murat Bey Tardić (opposite the entrance on Čizmedžiluk Street) as well as a Quranic school now converted into a dwelling house for the muezzin (behind the mosque). The entrance is free for the faithful. Visits are possible every day, but specific times must be observed: 9am-12pm, 2:30pm-4pm and 5:30pm-7pm; October-March: 9am-11am; Ramadan: 9am-12pm and 5:30pm-7pm.