ALADŽA MOSQUE IN FOČA

National monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author: Ekrem Tucaković, PhD, Riyasat of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Photo & video: Mirza Hasanefendić

 
 

Aladža (Colorful) Mosque in Foča, as a monument of culture of the highest value, was under the state protection from 1950, and the spatial plan of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1980 classified it in the first category of cultural-historical assets. In 2004, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina passed the decision whereby the site and remains of the architectural ensemble of the Aladža ((Hasan Nazir) Mosque in Foča, which had been completely destroyed ba Serbian forces in 11992, were designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The national monument consists of the Aladža Mosque with the belonging facilities: mausoleum of Ibrahim – son of the mosque founder, sarcošhagus of the founder, Hasan Nazir, a shadervani, older tomb sarcophaguses, cemetery with nišans (Islamic tombstones), stone walls and railings, two gates and a fountain in the wall of the courtyard.

The architectural ensemble of Aladža Mosque is situated on the irght bank of the river Ćehotina, about 1.6 km away from the point where the Ćehotina enters the river Drina, near the old Foča marketplace and downtown which nestle in a natural triangular space formed by rivers Drina and Ćehotina. Foča flourished during Turkish administration, particularly from the second half of the 15th to the end of the 16th century when it was transformed into the administrative seat of Herzegovina sanjak. As the center of Herzegovina sanjak, Foča underwent urban, economic and cultural development, and infrastructure was constructed needed for activities of civil authorities, religious, cultural, educational and economic institutions.  

In such circumstances, one of the most representative mosques in the Balkans was built. According to a chronogram carved in a stone slab above the entrance door, the Aladža Mosque was built in 957 Hijri year (1550/1551 A.D.). Building of the mosque was funded by a senior officer of Ottoman administration, a citizen of Foča. Based on the travelogue of Evlija Čelebija and his detailed description of the Aladža Mosque from 1664, it is known that Ramadan-aga was the main architect and that various artists, including masters from Dubrovnik, participated in the construction.

References to word Nazir in the name of the founder of Aladža Mosque in written documents and carved inscriptions explains the function and the position held by the mosque founder in the hierarchy of Turkish state administration. From 1526, the title of 'nazir' referred to the function of controller and financial supervisor of state assets and revenues collected at customs offices, market squares, ferries, in mines and salt mines, and other customs-owned assets which were rented in a juridical area of a sanjak. Nazir controlled business activities of lower financial officers of the Empire.

The Aladža Mosque belongs to the typological group of single-space domed mosques of classical style with the open exterior porch, which is vaulted with small domes and the minaret leaning against the right side. Compared to other mosques in Bosnia, the Aladža Mosque has the most beautiful and the most regular stone treatment. In the case of this mosque, stonemasons' artistry was reflected in cutting tufa for building walls of the mosque, and limestone for building the minaret, columns, portals, mihrab, minber and mahfil, particularly in carving the column capitals, stalactite decorations in trompes and mihrab, and in carving the minber and the mahfil. 

By the dimensions, it belongs to medium-sized mosques built in our regions: it is 18.07 m long and 13.70 m wide. The minaret is 27.8 m high, which relative to the facility makes it the highest. Due to such proportionate relationship many people believe that it is the highest minaret in these regions. Height relations of individual elements of the building are so proportionate that the whole facility leaves a monumental impression.

The Aladža had the most beautiful and the most interesting decorated stone furnishing in the interior of mosques of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The decorative pč

lastic of the mosque was made at the same time as the building itself. Its lively and accurately led drawing, as well as an extreme skill with which the entire decoration was executed on the stone surfaces of mihrab, minber, mhif, minaret and capitals in the porch testify of outstanding artistry of its stonemasons. Geometric ornamentation which used to exist on stone surfaces of the Aladža Mosque was characterized by motifs which were introduced to Turkish decoration mostly from the Early Islamic art. The luxurious decorative plastic filled stone surfaces if mihrab, minber and mahfil in the interior of the mosque. More than by architecture and decorative plastic, the Aladža Mosque was made famous by its wall painting. Besides a part of plastic decoration, it used to cover the spherical surface of the dome, all the four trompes, parts of the interior walls and the exterior wall of the mosque under the porch. Almost the same motifs were used to decorate lunettes above windows of the Aladža Mosque and above windows of the Selim I Mosque in Istanbul (from 1522) and the Ješil Mosque in Bursa. Besides, the decoration of blossoming bushes done in faience technique in the Aladža Mosque is the same as that in harem premises of Topkapi Palace and in the interior of the Rustem-pasha Mosque in Istanbul.

In the 17th century the Aladža Mosque was an object of admiration of many visitors, some of whom recorded their thoughts about the Aladža, in the form of short entries, on the walls of the building itself, particularly at its porch, on the right and left side from entrance to the mosque, as well as on marble columns of the porch. Some of these entries were dated and signed, while some were half-readable.

In the complex of the mosque there used to be the turbe (mausoleum) of Ibrahim-bey, some of the mosque founder. The turbe was an open domed structure on the square base. In the interior there was a stone sarcophagus with the profile end, as well as two damaged nišans. On the headstone, the turban was missing but the inscription was preserved.

The tomb of the founder of the Aladža Mosque, Hasan Nazir, was the oldest sarcophagus in the mosque cemetery. As one could read on the nišan, Hasan Nazir died immediately after the facility had been built, in 1533. The tomb was most likely built at that time, or else the founder had it built during the construction of the mosque.

 In the mosque cemetery there were old sarcophaguses – they were tombs of rectangular form, of about 220-230 cm x 85-95 floor space and about 65-75 high. These tombs were built of regular cuboids of tufa. The nišans were not preserved and therefore it was not possible to date them. Still, by the way of building, the used tufa, profiling on the end festoon it can be assumed that they were tombs of respectable people of the time after the construction of the Aladža. 

The mosque cemetery housed a large number of older nišans, some of which were transferred there when a large part of the cemetery was turned into the city park.

The shadervani was placed against the portal. In the middle of its simple circular pond, made of stone slabs, there was a nicely decorated glass. Its upper edge was decorated by a border with carved Rumi-ornament, the motifs of which corresponded to those on the lower part of the minber. Below the border a string made of plastically shaped petals was executed. 

The fountain was positioned on the wall which frames the mosque cemetery. It was made of regularly cut pieces of tufa, which were one-sidedly slanted toward the cemetery, without covering. Close to the top of the front wall of the fountain a stone slab was built in – a chronogram which reveals data on the year and the benefactor.

The space around the mosque was enclosed with a low stone wall. In the wall, two gates (entrances) to the complex of the mosque were made. Both entrance gates were built of regularly cut pieces of tufa. The gates were covered with a tent-like roof with covering of ćeramida (a kind of roof tiles) on the wooden structure. By their shape and structure, the gates corresponded to the spirit and the way of the time when the mosque was built.

Ensemble of the Aladža Mosque, together with belonging facilities: Ibrahim's mausoleum, surrounding tombs and the tombstone of the founder Hasan Nazir, the shadervani and the fountain in the wall of the courtyard, stone wall on the southeast side, south and west gate were shelled and completely destroyed by Serbian forces in 1992, and all remains were taken to the bed of the river Drina on trucks. In many mass graves of Bosniaks killed in Foča stone and wooden fragments of the shelled mosque and its ensemble were found. The graves were covered with thick deposits of earth and waste, and parts of the columns, mihrab and entrance portal, the minaret and other remains of the shelled Aladža were found 7 m deep under the ground. In 2018, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the indictment against Goran Mojović, who was charged that, on 2 August 1992, as a member of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), caused an explosion and completely destroyed the cultural-historical and religious monument of the Aladža Mosque in Foča. The indictment alleged that in the evening hours of 2 August 1992, in the capacity of the Chief of the Engineering Unit of the Foča Tactical Group in the Army of Republika Srpska, came to the military premises of the Foča Tactical Group in Velečevo and conveyed, to the present members, the order to pull down the Aladža Mosque.  As stated, two present Serbian soldiers refused to carry out the order, whereas Rajko Milošević agreed to carry it out, whereupon he, together with Goran Mojovič, went to the Livade Military Depo in the Foča Municipality, where they took over the material necessary for the activation of the mines. “Then they unloaded the mines and the other materials which Goran Mojović and Rajko Milošević planted around and inside the mosque, and then activated causing an explosion in which they completely destroyed the Aladža Mosque”, communication of the Court of BiH reads.

Re-building of the Aladža Mosque began after long preparatory activities in 2014, and its renewal, which lasted four and a half years, was mostly funded by the General Directorate of Waqfs of the Republic of Turkey. The project of rebuilding the mosque was also supported by the Embassy of the USA in BiH, which ensured funds for preparing project documentation and making of the mihrab, whereby it became the first donor of rebuilding the mosque. The fact that the Aladža Mosque was one of the best studied mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina was particularly significant for its authentic rebuilding. Photographs of decorations and calligraphic inscriptions were preserved. Andrej Andrejević, an expert from Belgrade, a professor of the history of art, in his book (Andrejević, Andrej, Aladža džamija u Foči, Beograd, 1972) preserved valuable data and photographs of the Aladža Mosque, including detailed drawings of each detail.

The rebuilt Aladža Mosque was opened on 4 May 2019. Painting of the interior part of the rebuilt Aladža was partly done by a team from Istanbul. Part of decorations around the mosque windows has been left in the original condition and is one of reminders of the history of the mosque. 

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