AZIZIJA MOSQUE IN BREZOVO POLJE, BRČKO

NATIONAL MONUMENT OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Author: Dr. Ekrem Tucaković, Rijaset Islamske zajednice u Bosni i Hercegovini 
Photo & video: Mirza Hasanefendić

In 2003, Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina designated the site and remains of the architectural ensemble of the Azizija Mosque with harem in Brezovo Polje near Bihać as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Brezovo Polje in its present form developed rapidly as a settlement from 1862 on, when 295 Muslim households, refugees from Serbia (116 from Užice, 148 from Šabac and 31 from Soko) settled there. Many refugees from Serbia stayed in Bosnia, most of them in the region along the south bank of the Sava (Brčko, Orašje, Bijeljina, Bosanski Šamac, Bosanski Brod, Bosanska Kostajnica etc.). Since it led to an increased number of Muslims in these towns, there was a growing need to build certain facilities, including religious buildings.  

The Azizija Mosque is one of the largest buildings dating from the declining years of the rule of the Ottoman Empire in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was erected in 1862 with funds from the imperial coffers. It took its name from the ruler of the day, sultan Abdu-l-Aziz, the son of  Murat V. During his reign, state funds were used to build three mosques (the Azizija in Brezovo Polje, 1862, the Azizija in Orašje, 1863 and the Azizija in Bosanska Kostajnica, 1862).   

The Azizija Mosque was of the centrally domes type of mosque, with covered sofas and stone minaret. It was perfectly symmetrical in form. The mosque was a substantial building in the center of a small settlement, which is a fairly rare feature. It was the only mosque in BiH with very distinct features deriving from the influence of the Baroque on Ottoman architecture.

Alongside the Azizija Mosque is a graveyard with a considerable number of nišan tombstones. One that stands out in size and treatment is the tombstone of Mustafa-agha Hadžegrić, a refugee from Šabac, dated 26 September 1902, surrounded with an iron railing.

During the aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian forces completely destroyed the mosque. Its renewal was completed in 2016.

 

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