Kızlarağa Camii, Mrkonjić: An Ottoman Mosque and Waqf Complex
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Primary era
- Unclassified
- Eras represented
- Unclassified
- Civilizations
- Unclassified
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Mosque
On this page13 sections
History
Kızlarağa Camii, Mrkonjić, is an Ottoman mosque in Mrkonjić Grad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, built in the classical Ottoman style between 1591 and 1595. Its exact construction date is unknown, but documentary evidence places the work within that period. The mosque stood at the centre of the settlement, beside the municipal building.
Foundation and Endowment
The settlement developed on the site of the village of Gornja Kloka at the end of the sixteenth century. It was established as Novo Jajce and was later known as Varcar Vakuf until 1925, when it received the name Mrkonjić Grad. The mosque was founded by Mustafa-aga, a court kizlaraga, a senior Ottoman official responsible for the imperial harem.
Mustafa-aga created a waqf, a charitable endowment that supported religious, educational, commercial, and public institutions. His foundation in Gornja Kloka included the mosque, a mekteb or elementary Islamic school, a caravanserai with 20 rooms, 24 shops, a water-supply system, and a collection of books and manuscripts. The endowment deed also specified the financial arrangements for maintaining the complex and paying its staff.
The waqf included 674,000 akçe in cash. Of this amount, 59,040 akçe was assigned to salaries, while 615,060 akçe was placed into circulation at a return of 10 percent to meet operating expenses. A library established in the mosque held approximately 50 old books and manuscripts until the building was destroyed.
Restoration and Destruction
The mosque underwent a major restoration in 1873. The date was preserved in a chronogram above the entrance, a verse inscription carved in naskh script. The restoration followed the model of the Ali Pasha Mosque in Sarajevo. Further repairs took place in 1883, 1899, and 1925.
After the mosque was completed, a large carpet weighing approximately 200 to 300 kilograms was brought from Istanbul to cover its floor. Austro-Hungarian soldiers cut the carpet into four pieces during the looting of 1878. One piece is preserved in the Museum of Art in Vienna.
During the war in the 1990s, the mosque was burned and mined before it was demolished. Material from the building was transported to a rubbish dump at the Grabež site. The General Directorate of Foundations of the Republic of Turkey later provided funding for restoration. In May 2005, the site and the remains of its architectural complex were declared a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Remains
The mosque was a nearly square, single-room building of stone, organized around a central dome, a domed entrance porch, and an attached minaret. Its external plan measured approximately 11.66 by 11.63 metres. The recorded dimensions describe a compact classical Ottoman composition with the porch extending across the full width of the entrance facade.
Entrance Porch
Domed Porch
The entrance porch was covered by three small domes set at the same level. Each bay measured approximately 3.22 by 3.55 metres, and the domes reached about 8.40 metres to their finials. They rested on octagonal drums, the raised supports beneath the domes, each 60 centimetres high, with sides measuring 130 centimetres.
Columns and Benches
Four massive circular stone columns supported the porch. Each column was 40 centimetres in diameter and 3.60 metres high, standing on a square base measuring 50 by 50 centimetres and 60 centimetres high. Semicircular stone arches linked the columns to one another and to the front wall of the mosque, while horizontal steel tie rods reinforced the structure.
Low stone benches flanked the entrance door. Each measured approximately 5.30 by 4.30 metres. These benches formed part of the porch’s stone construction and accompanied the entrance across the front of the building.
Prayer Space and Dome
Central Dome
The central prayer space was covered by the mosque’s principal dome. Its apex stood approximately 14.50 metres above the floor, while its external height to the finial was about 15 metres. The dome rested on a raised circular drum, approximately 0.70 metres thick and reaching about 1.80 metres externally to the cornice.
Circular Windows
Four circular oculi, or round windows, were set in the drum. Each had an external diameter of approximately 80 centimetres. Together with the drum, they formed the upper lighting elements of the domed prayer space.
Minaret
Attached Stone Tower
The attached minaret was built of stone and had fourteen sides. Its base measured approximately 2 metres in diameter. It joined the mosque’s right exterior wall, integrating the tower into the main building rather than placing it as a separate structure.
Minaret Entrance
The entrance to the minaret was located in the right corner of the prayer space beneath the mahfil, a raised gallery or screened interior section. The arrangement connected access to the tower with the interior circulation of the mosque.
