OTTOMAN ARCHITECTURE OF SARAJEVO BEFORE BUILDING THE GAZI HUSREV-BEG’S MOSQUE

Sarajevo was founded in 1462, during the height of a very extensive Ottoman military campaign, which led to the fall of the Bosnian Kingdom. The city was founded at the site of the medieval settlement which was a very important trade center. The founder of the city, Isa-bey Ishaković, had an ambitious building plan on the then outskirts of the Ottoman Empire and in a vulnerable political situation which did not show signs of long-term stabilization. It reveals the extent to which Isa-bey, together with Ottoman administration, risked with his decision. It seems that in the beginning the city had its full prospects only in the head of its founder.

At the first glance, Sarajevo was initially developed in an uncontrolled way; however, Isa-bey and his successors had an accurate plan of building, which encompassed institutions which make a city the city and which would allow it to function. To this aim, building included a mosque, a saraj (seat of the regent), a hammam, a tekke, a caravanserai, the trading center, a bridge across the Miljacka and the first mahalas (residential neighborhoods). Even then it could be seen that Sarajevo would not be only a temporary Ottoman fort toward the west but rather a settlement one could count on, which was conceived as the administrative center of a wider territory. We are also certainly interested in the appearance of the first buildings.

In general, in the second half of the 15th century Ottoman architecture assumed its recognizable patterns, which would form the so-called Old Constantinople style and promote the central dome as its main theme. There were different opinions on how the original Isa-bey Mosque could have looked like, i.e. it was not clear whether it was a building with a pitched roof or with a dome. Today, based on some archaeological indicators and explorations of foundations it can be claimed that the mosque had the dome, same as the nearby hammam was domed. Unlike the hammam, which stood the test of time for ages, the mosque was in poor condition as early as in the mid-16th century (perhaps as a consequence of the fire of 1480) and it was decided that the present building should be built (in 1565). After Isa-bey, a mosque was also commissioned by sanjak bey Mehmed-beg Minetović, and after him by Ajas-bey, who commissioned both a mosque and a hammam. Mehmed-bey, son of Isa-bey, commissioned a mosque and a madrasa in 1520, and a domed market and an inn in the central part of the marketplace. The Mehmed-bey Mosque still exists in the neighborhood of Bistrik. It is a mosque with the hipped roof, extremely spacious and with a nicely built stone minaret. It was severely damaged in the fire of 1697, but was fully restored as early as in 1700.

Before the arrival of Gazi Husrev-bey, Firuz-bey commissioned a hammam and a madrasa. The hammam was of a medium size, and its remains can still discerned at Baščaršija. In 1518, Mustafa-bey Skenderpašić commissioned the second domed mosque in Sarajevo at the site of present Skenderija (it was razed shortly before the Second World War). Besides this and the Isa-bey Mosque, two more mosques had domes before 1530. The first was the Čekrekči Muslihudin Mosque from 1526. It was founded by Muslihudin hadži Mustafa Čekrekčija, who got his nickname because he made winches (čekrks), mechanisms which were intended to elevate heavy loads using little force and were used in construction and seafaring. It is a single-spaced domed mosque. It does not have a usual porch, and it is now occupied by shops. The porch may have been destroyed in numerous fires in Sarajevo. The mosque has a low dome and a minaret which is indented in the body of the building.

Another mosque which was built shortly after this one is the Havadže Duraka or Baščaršija Mosque from 1528. It is located near the Čekrekčija Mosque and was built in a somewhat different manner. There is not much information about its founder. Unlike the Čekrekčija Mosque, it its porch has been preserved although it is possible that it was changed over centuries. It was heavily damaged in the fire of 1697, when the dome collapsed. It has one of the most beautifully made and ornamented minarets in Sarajevo, and its architecture indicated the beginning of a new wave and the arrival of the classical style on the historical scene.