THE CITY MOSQUE IN CAZIN
Author: Smajo-ef. Šabić, imam of the City Mosque in Cazin • Photo: Mirza Hasanefendić
Within bulwarks of the medieval fort in Cazin a mosque was built in 1576, on the site of the present one. It was razed in 1879, and in the same year a new mosque was built, with a wooden minaret, which was one of the biggest in our country. The minaret passed through the maktab, so a stone minaret was built in 1924, designed by the Italian architect J. Missoni. The minaret is 31 meter high.
Before the war, the City Mosque in Cazin was one of the biggest mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since Friday was the market day in Cazin, all the Muslims who came to market in Cazin on Fridays also attended the Friday prayer in the City Mosque. According to both records and oral narratives, 2,000 people prayed in it. Stories say that one should arrive at least an hour earlier to enter the mosque for the Friday prayer.
The mosque, which is now a national monument, have a shape of elongated rectangle, and an area of 14x28 m. The height of the building, measured from the floor to flat ceiling, amounts to 8 m. It was built of stone, and its 85 cm-thick walls are plastered on the outside and painted on the inside. The hipped roof used to be covered with rooftiles, and since 2002 it is covered with the Swedish tin which reminds of rooftiles.
On all the four sides, the mosque facade, which is painted white, is divided into two levels with a prominent line. The mosque has 39 windows distributed into two horizontal rows.
Interior of the mosque is divided into three levels, i.e. ground floor, mahfil (gallery) and the second floor. In the central part of the mosque there is a chandelier, which is, according to legends, donated to the mosque by Austrian tsar Franz Joseph. In the past, the chandelier used oil. It is lit only on special occasions, on mubarek (blessed) days and nights.
During the adaptation of the staircase in the mosque a lantern was found, made in Austria in 1890.
The City Mosque in a symbol of Cazin and is found of the coat of arms of Cazin. Besides Muslims who come to the mosque for prayers, it is visited by many tourists.
