MUSA-PASHA MOSQUE IN NOVA KASABA

Musa-pasha Mosque is worth seeing. This is a mosque whose doors and walls, mihrab and minbar and the archway over the gates are quite beautifully executed artistically, and all of it is made of marble, green like emerald. And when the sunshine falls upon it, green rays gleam from the doors and windows. There is no other such mosque made of green marble anywhere in this country. (E. Chelebi)

Musa-pasha Mosque is situated in the town of Nova Kasaba, by the state road Vlasenica – Zvornik, about 20 km away from Vlasenica. The town developed during the Ottomans, on the Jadar river, in the kadiluk (administrative subdivision) of Birče, as a typical caravan settlement. The foundation for its emergence and development were set by the vizier and Buda regent Musa-pasha, who formed a basic residential-business infrastructure in the period from 1641 to 1643. Next to the mosque, Musa-pasha commissioned a maktab and many endowments for maintaining the mosque and the maktab, such as: two caravanserais, 25 stores, a tannery, a mortar, a watermill with four winches, a bridge across the river Jadar, and endowed a land, forests, a vineyard, a pasture, 150,000 silver akčas for money circulation, etc., which made the settlement eligible for the status of a town (A. Bejtić). About fifteen years after the construction of these endowment, French travel writer M. Quiclet, on a journey from Venice to Constantinople, recorded that he had crossed the river Jadar over a beautiful stone bridge and spent a night in “Musa-pasha Inn”, in a market town called Jadar (Ć. Truhelka).

Over time, the endowed goods perished or were misappropriated, mostly due to usurpation by authorities of the times, from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to AVNOY-based Yugoslavia and thus only the monumental mosque remained of all these buildings. The mosque preserved its authentic purpose and form until 1993.

Musa-pasha was a local man, born in Vikoč, between Foča and Pljevlje, into the elders' family Vehabegović. According to data recorded in his vakufnama (deed of endowment), his father's name was Mehmed. The earliest reference to him is as a silahdar (guardian of arms) of sultan Murad IV. In 1630, he became the prefect of Egypt. Later on, he was a member of Royal Council and thrice a prefect in Buda, where his vakufnama for endowments in Nova Kasaba was written in 1643. In 1645 he was appointed admiral of Ottoman navy and was killed at this position in the maritime Battle of Negroponte on 22 January 1647. He was buried at Uskudar, one of Constantinople districts. As far as it is known, besides the listed goods in Nova Kasaba, he left his endowments in Budim, Belgrade and Donja Tuzla (A. Bejtić).

Musa-pasha Mosque in Nova Kasaba is situated on the left bank of the river Jadar. There are no inscriptions on the mosque about its building, though based on the preserved vakufnama it can be concluded that its building began in the spring of 1642 and ended in 1643, when the vakufnama was written. In architectural terms, Musa-pasha Mosque belongs to the type of single-space mosques with massive stone walls, the hipped roof, covered porch and a stone minaret. The interior of the mosque has a square ground plan the sides of which measure 11.35 meters. The walls are up to 95 cm thick. The interior height of the mosque is 5.65 m from floor to ceiling. The ceiling is made of wooden beams with 25x20 cm section set every 80-90 cm.

In the interior of the building, above the entrance porch there is a mahfil which runs along the whole length of the northeast wall and the front part of which rests on six wooden pillars. It is interesting and unusual that the mavil is accessed through the minaret staircase. The mihrab is made of stone and is decorated with a rich stalactite ornament. The minbar and the window niche elements are also richly decorated with accurately made arch decoration. Window shutters, both exterior and interior, are richly molded and give a highly ornamental effect.

The main feature of this mosque is its minaret with one open šerefe (balcony), the total height of which is 26.50 meter. Although there are no stalactites below the balcony or other decorative elements, it is considered one of the most beautiful minarets in the country. The minaret is built of the stone of particular green color, andesite tuff, which is quarried near Nova Kasaba, in the village of Rajići, two-hour walk toward Vlasenica (A. Bejtić). The minaret was made of this stone from top to bottom, as were the cut stone parts of the windows, gates, mihrab, minbar and particularly all the four corners of the mosque itself from top to bottom (quoins), as well as most nišans (Muslim tombstones) in the courtyard of the mosque, which gives it a unique architectural character. Its distinctive make amazed the famous Evlija Chelebi, who in his Sejahatnama  wrote that “there is no other such mosque made of green marble anywhere in this country”.

The historical-aesthetic value of the Musa-pasha Mosque is confirmed by the fact that pursuant to the Decision of the Institute for Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina of 1951 the mosque was included in the buildings protected by the state. Nevertheless, the locals occasionally did some restoration works without consulting authorities competent for the protection of cultural and historical monuments. Thus, in the 1960s, the stone quoins of the facade, as well as the mihrab, minbar and the entrance portal in the interior were whitewashed. However, these works did not markedly affect the authenticity of the building.

When the army and police of Republika srpska and the army of Yugoslavia occupied Nova Kasaba in 1993, the building was completely destroyed. Part f the material was dumped alongside the Jadar river and part was taken away to an unknown destination (Committee). Musa-pasha Mosque, which was built in 1643, survived all elements, world wars and many misfortunes, but it did not manage to survive the destructive aggression on Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992–1995). Only a year before the aggression, in 1991, a project for its renewal was made on the occasion of 350th anniversary, but instead of its renewal and the ceremony, it was barbarically devastated and razed – a unique sacral jewel made of green tuff.

After the end of the aggression and return of some Bosniaks to their homes, the renewal of Musa-pasha Mosque began. In 2003, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina made the Decision pursuant to which “The site and remains of the architectural ensemble – Musa-pasha Mosque in Nova Kasab /Dušanovo, municipality of Milići is designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina...”. The cornerstone for its renewal was laid on 13 July 2007. It has been renewed in the completely authentic form, under the professional supervision of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The opening ceremony took place on 8 August 2010, and now it is fully functioning. Besides the undisputable historical, artistic, aesthetic and sacral value, the building has the traditional and symbolic value, of particular significance for the identity of Bosnian Muslims.

References:

• Bašagić, Safvet-beg (1931), Znameniti Hrvati, Bošnjaci i Hercegovci u turskoj carevini, Zagreb, 52.

• Bejtić, Alija, “Nova Kasaba u Jadruˮ, Godišnjak Društva istoričara Bosne i Hercegovine, god. XI, Sarajevo, 1960, 225-249.

• Čelebi, Evlija, Putopis, Sarajevo, 1996, 479-480.

• Komisije za očuvanje nacionalnih spomenika Bosne i Hercegovine, Odluka: Područje i ostaci graditeljske cjeline – Musa-pašina džamija u Novoj Kasabi/Dušanovu, opština Milići, proglašava se nacionalnim spomenikom Bosne i Hercegovine, “Službeni glasnik BiHˮ, broj 12/03.

• Mujezinović, Mehmed (1998), Islamska epigrafika u BiH, knjiga I, Sarajevo, 139-141.

• “Otvorena obnovljena Musa-pašina džamija u Novoj Kasabiˮ, Dnevni avaz, (Sarajevo), 11.8.2010.

• Šabić, Bekir, Musa-pašina džamija u Novoj Kasabi, neobjavljen seminarski rad, Filozifski fakultet Univerziteta u Tuzli, Odsjek: Razredna nastava, Tuzla, 2007.

• Truhelka, Ćiro (1905), “Opis Dubrovnika i Bosne iz god. 1658.ˮ, Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja, god. XVII, Sarajevo.