4/5 Aleksandar Lakić (. 6 years ago on Google
Bakr-Baba’s
Mosque
is
located
next
to
the At Mejdan archaeological
park
in
the
Old
Town,
on
the
left
bank
of
the
Miljacka
River,
just
a
bit
east
of Ćumurija
Bridge.
The
original
mosque
was
built
in
1544
as
part
of
the vakuf (endowment)
set
up
by
Hajji
Alija
Bakr-Baba,
a
prominent
Sarajevo
merchant,
after
whom
the
mosque
was
named.
At
that
time,
this
edifice
was
considered
one
of
Sarajevo’s
loveliest
and
largest
mosques,
with
a
minaret
that
reached
a
height
of
about
30
meters.
The
complex
also
included
a mekteb (children’s
school).
When
Eugene
of
Savoy
sacked
Sarajevo
in
October
1697,
the
mosque
went
up
in
flames.
A
new
mosque
was
built
on
the
same
spot
in
1700,
but
it
later
caught
on
fire
and
was
rebuilt
by
neighborhood
residents.
In
1741
or
1742,
Hajji
Ismail Misrija commissioned
a medresa (religious
educational
facility)
on
the
eastern
side
of
the
mosque’s
courtyard,
which
contained
a
cemetery
and,
soon
afterward,
Abdulah
Efendi
Kantamirija
had
a
library
built
here.
By
the
end
of
the
18th century, At Mejdan had
become
an
important
educational
and
cultural
center.
It
began
to
lose
its
original
function
at
the
beginning
of
the
19th century,
with
the
imposition
of Austro-Hungarian rule,
but
the
mosque
and
its
adjacent
facilities
were
already
in
a
dilapidated
and
neglected
state.
Immediately
following
Austro-Hungarian
occupation,
Bakr-Baba’s
Mosque
was
turned
into
a
military
storehouse
and
the
mosque
and mekteb were
knocked
down
in
1895.
The
site
was
then
filled
in
and
smoothed
out
to
become
part
of
At Mejdan Park.
It
was
during
the
first
decade
of
the
21st century
that
work
got
underway
to
excavate
the
archeological
remains
of
the
mosque
and
its
adjacent
buildings,
at
the
behest
of
the
learned
Islamic
scholar,
Hajji
Hafez
Halid
Efendi
Hadžimulić.
A
smaller
but
more
modern
mosque
was
built
on
the
unearthed
foundations
of
the
old
mosque
and
it
was
officially
opened
on
June
27,
2011.
The
interior
of
the
mosque
features
the
longest
stone levha (Islamic
calligraphic
panel)
in
Europe.
It
is
45
meters
long
and
the
stone
tablets
weigh
as
much
as
50
kilograms
each
and
include
parts
of
the
Noor
Supplication.
It
was
Halid
Efendi
Hadžimulić
who
initiated
the
idea
for
these
stone
inscriptions,
and
the turbet near
the
entrance
to
Bakr-Baba’s
Mosque
serves
as
his
final
resting
place.