History
The Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque was built by the famous Ottoman architect Adzem Esir Ali "Alaüddin", who also built the Yavuz Selim Mosque in Istanbul for the Sultan Selim I. The mosque was financed in 1531 by Gazi Husrev-beg, the provincial governor of Bosnia and Sultan Beyazid II's grandson. Gazi Husrev-beg is widely considered Sarajevo's greatest patron, as he financed much of Sarajevo's old city at this time.
Magnificent stalactite ornamentation in the angles under the dome and in the place where the imam leads the prayers, as well as other polychromatic decoration, valuable carpets and the light effects through the 51 windows produces a sense of greater space than there is in reality. At every time of prayer in this mosque, the great benefactor Gazi Husrev-beg is remembered.
In his legacy, he stated: "Good deeds drive away evil, and one of the most worthy of good deeds is the act of charity, and the most worthy act of charity is one which lasts forever. Of all charitable deeds, the most beautiful is one that continually renews itself."
Gazi Husrev-beg also built the same mosque called Hüsreviye Mosque in Aleppo, Syria, between 1536 and 1537.
Gazi Husrev-bey Mosque was the first mosque in the world to receive electricity and electric ilumination in 1898 during the period of Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Read more about this topic: Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“I believe that history has shape, order, and meaning; that exceptional men, as much as economic forces, produce change; and that passé abstractions like beauty, nobility, and greatness have a shifting but continuing validity.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“The history of the genesis or the old mythology repeats itself in the experience of every child. He too is a demon or god thrown into a particular chaos, where he strives ever to lead things from disorder into order.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I cannot be much pleased without an appearance of truth; at least of possibility—I wish the history to be natural though the sentiments are refined; and the characters to be probable, though their behaviour is excelling.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)