Sinan Pasha Mosque in Prizren: An Ottoman Friday Mosque
Site at a Glance
- Popularity
- High
- Country
- Kosovo
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Ottoman
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Mosque
On this page7 sections
History
The Sinan Pasha Mosque in Prizren, Kosovo, is a Sunni mosque intended for communal Friday prayers, built under the Ottoman Empire. Construction began in either 1600 or 1608 and was completed in 1615.
Foundation and Monastery Stonework
Sofi Sinan Pasha, an Albanian from Prizren, began the project. He had served as a senior Ottoman provincial governor, known by the title beylerbey, and as a kaymakam, an Ottoman administrative official whose duties varied, in Bosnia. He was not the Grand Vizier, the Ottoman ruler’s chief minister, associated with a separate mosque in nearby Kaçanik.
The mosque’s stonework has been linked to the nearby Holy Archangels Monastery. M. Maksimović proposed that stones from the monastery were used in the mosque. In 1972, Albanian historian Hasan Kaleshi argued that Sofi Sinan Pasha could not have ordered the monastery’s destruction without a sultan’s decree. Kaleshi proposed instead that reserve stones were used under the sultan’s direction. The monastery had been abandoned after the Ottoman arrival in the sixteenth century and was destroyed in the seventeenth.
Protection and Religious Use
In 1990, the Republic of Serbia designated the mosque a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance. It is also listed as cultural heritage under permanent protection. A municipal proposal envisaged a library in the mosque to preserve Ottoman manuscripts found there and other valuable manuscripts from Kosovo. The Islamic Union of Kosovo sued to oppose the mosque becoming a museum and to maintain its religious use.
Remains
Plan and Exterior
The stone mosque has a square plan measuring about 14 metres on each side, with walls 1.65 metres thick. A large lead-covered dome and a smaller lead-covered half-dome over the mihrab, the prayer niche indicating the direction of prayer, form its roof. The mosque’s single minaret, or tower, rises 43.5 metres and has a conical lead-covered top. It overlooks Prizren’s main street and is a prominent feature of the town’s skyline. Portions of the Holy Archangels Monastery can be seen from the mosque.
Interior and Decoration
The mosque’s interior walls and dome received paintings in the nineteenth century, chiefly floral designs and Qur’anic verses. The painted mihrab has a hood with a tiered, hanging form, and the minbar, or pulpit, bears floral decoration. The stone flooring and woodwork are original.
Condition and Manuscripts
Holes in the roof allowed rain to enter, leading to the loss of some original wall paintings and the detachment of plaster. The outer stones have also weathered. The mural restorer Abdullah Gërguri repaired the paintings, particularly during the 1970s. Ottoman manuscripts have been found in the mosque.
