Ferhat Pasha Mosque

Ferhat Pasha Mosque in the city of Banja Luka s one of the greatest achievements of Bosnia and Herzegovina's 16th century Ottoman Islamic architecture. The mosque was demolished in 1993 at the order of the authorities of Republika Srpska as a part of ethnic cleansing campaign, and was rebuilt and opened in 2016.

Commissioned by the Bosnian Sanjak-bey Ferhad Pasha Sokolović, the mosque was built in 1579 with money that, as tradition has it, were paid by the Auersperg family for the severed head of the Habsburg general Herbard VIII von Auersperg and the ransom for the general's son after a battle at the Croatian border in 1575, where Ferhad Pasha was triumphant.

The mosque was one of 16 destroyed in the city of Banja Luka during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995. The Serb militia blew up the Ferhadija Mosque on the night of 6–7 May 1993. May 6 is the date of the Serbian Orthodox holiday of Đurđevdan (Saint George's day). The minaret survived the first explosion, but was then razed to the ground.

In June 2007 repairs were completed on the foundations that survived the destruction, and reconstruction of the masonry and the rest of the building was completed over the next nine years, with the mosque reopening in on 7 May 2016.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Kralja Petra I Karađorđevića, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Details

Founded: 1579/2016
Category: Religious sites in Bosnia and Herzegovina