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Čekrekčijina mosque, the architectural ensemble

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Status of monument -> National monument

Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 2 to 8 November 2004 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The architectural ensemble of the Čekrekčinica (Čekrekči Muslihudin) Mosque with shops in Sarajevo is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 307, title sheet no. 238,  cadastral municipality Sarajevo I, and c.p. nos. 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 308 and 309, cadastral municipality Sarajevo I, Municipality Stari Grad, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The provisions relating to protection measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of  BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02 and 6/04) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, and display the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with the basic data on the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.

 

III

           

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated, which shall apply to the area defined in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision:

  • on the site designated as c.p. nos. 307 and 302, all works are prohibited other than restoration and conservation works, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning (hereinafter: the relevant ministry) and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the heritage protection authority),
  • all works, regardless of their type and extent, must be conducted on the basis of prior approval from the relevant ministry.

 

On the site designated as c.p. nos. 300, 301, 303, 304, 305, and 306, the only works permitted are routine maintenance works on  the buildings.

On the site designated as c.p. no. 309, no new construction is permitted.

 

IV

           

All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.

 

V

 

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.

 

VI

 

            The Government of the Federation, the relevant Ministry, the heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VII

 

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba) 

 

VIII

 

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

 

IX

 

On the date of adoption of this Decision, the National Monument shall be deleted from the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02, Official Gazette of Republika Srpska no. 79/02, Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 59/02, and Official Gazette of Brčko District BiH no. 4/03), where it featured under serial no. 542.

 

X

 

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

 

            This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hajjimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

 

Number: 06.1-2-205/04-3                                                           

3 November 2004

Sarajevo                                                                                   

 

Chair of the Commission

Dubravko Lovrenović

 

E l u c i d a t i o n

 

I – INTRODUCTION

 

Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina  and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of  BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments issued a decision to add the Čekrekčijina Mosque in Sarajevo to the Provisional List of National Monuments, under serial number 542.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

 

II –PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

  • Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.
  • Inspection of the current condition of the property
  • Copy of cadastral plan
  • Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.

 

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the site are as follows:

 

1. Details of the property

 

Location         

The Čekrekči Muslihudin mosque was built in the north-eastern part of Baščaršija, at the bottom of the Kovači quarter, at the very heart of the old trading centre.

The surviving endowment charter of the builder of the mosque records that it was built in the mahala of the Isa-beg zawiyya, so the name mahala of the Muslihudin Čekrekčija mosque later replaced out the old name of the Isa-beg Mahala(1).

The area around the mosque is defined by the square to the west and north, while to the south is the very busy road that takes almost all the traffic from the eastern access to the city of Sarajevo, and is a major city communication.

The site slopes steeply from north to south.

 

Historical information

The mosque was erected by Muslihudin hajji Mustafa Čekrekčija in 1526. It is now the oldest surviving domed mosque in Sarajevo, and the second oldest domed mosque surviving in Bosnia and Herzegovina, antedated only by Livno’s Balagijina (Balaguša) mosque(2).

The vakufnama (deed of endowment) of the founder of the mosque finder records that hajji Mustafa, son of Ishak, was known among the people as Muslihudin Čekrekčija, its builder.

Mosques whose deeds of endowment have been preserved, even in transcript, are rare(3), and even rarer are those whose original deeds of endowment charters have survived to this day. In this regard, the Čekrekčinica Mosque is one of the rare exceptions, because its original waqfiyya has been preserved. It is written in Arabic, (in naskh script) on thick white paper, backed with silk, 217 cm long and 21 cm wide. It is dated in the month of Dhu l-Qa’dah 932 AH, that is August 1526 (9 July – 6 September 1526). This also makes it the oldest known document written in Sarajevo. It was found in the legacy of Muhamed Enveri ef. Kadić.

Given that this document provides a great deal of information on the vakuf (Ar. waqf) of this mosque, and also sheds much light on Sarajevo’s past, extracts from the translation by Mr. Mehmed Handžić are quoted below:

“...When a man dies, his work comes to an end, except for three things: the knowledge and skills he used, the good child who prays for him, and his enduring sadaqa [good deeds].”

Those who are wise know that knowledge can also be used by leaving a charitable fund for the acquisition of knowledge by the sons of poor good people.

Therefore, the master of hajrat and performer of good deeds with sincere intent, the noble and fortunate benefactor who acquires property and aspires to jannah [paradise] and the high degrees of Muslihul-milleti ved-din(4) al Hajji Mustafa bin Ishak, seeking sawab [merit for good deeds] for himself and his father, and a fine memorial to himself and his ancestors and descendants, when he gave joy to his sight with the light of knowledge and desired that his memorial endure forever, it occurred to him to erect a mosque in which the prayers that are a religious duty would be performed. Then his mind’s ear heard the cry: “He who builds a mosque in the name of the Lord, the Lord shall build a house for him in jannah”, and he used his best property and most halal [religiously pure] possessions to establish a waqf with the intention of acquiring a fine end to his life and the world to come to endow his property, possessions and everything that was in his hands until the establishment of this waqf, which is: 29 shops, of which eight are in the sabre market in the city of Sarajevo, six near the Turna-dede zawiyyah [Sufi meeting place], nine near the merhum [late] Firuzbey hammam and five in the Ajas Pasha spring, whose borders are known and marked in the purchase hujjahs(5). 

Further, 14 shops, of which seven are under one roof in the sabre market in the said city, which border to the east with the property of Hajji Alija Terzija, to the west with the property of Kekeki Nesuh(6), from the qibla(7)  with the property of the waqif, and to the north with the čaršija road. Of these, two, also under one roof, are in the sabre market in the said city, bordering to the east with the property of Mustafa Čelebija, to the west with the waqif’s shop, from the qibla with the čaršija road, and to the north with the land where the water drains out of the Ajas Pasha hammam. Of these, five are near the shop of Hasan son of Jatiživ(8), also under one roof, bordering to the east with the shop of the son of Jatiživ, to the west also, from the qibla with the čaršija road, and to the north with the land where the water drains out of the Ajas Pasha hammam.

Then the said waqif bought from Jusuf bin Jaffar bin H. Alija two shops under one roof in the Sarajevo čaršija, bordering to the east with the property of Kjučudžik Ahmad, from the west with the waqif’s waqf, from the qibla with the čaršija road, and to the north with the land where the water drains out of the Ajas Pasha hammam.  And he added these two shops to the said waqf, as well as the sum of 35,000 good silver dirhams issued by Sultan Sulayman khan that are in use – may the Lord help him, grant him eternal rule and preserve his state forever!

After the waqif set aside the said items from his estate and best possessions, and handed them to the mutawwalli [waqf manager] he made it a condition that the said shops be leased, and that the said sum of money be invested for growth according to the provisions of shari’a law. He stipulated as follows:

The property may not be invested except with the permission of the imam, muezzin, muallim [teacher], and the congregation of the said mosque. He stipulated that the profit gained from the sum of 10,000 dirhams and the revenue from one shop be spent for the mosque itself erected by the waqif in the mahala of the merhum [late] Isabey’s zawiyya, and for the mekteb he built in the mahala of H. Ismail Sarač and for repair of the other said waqf facilities. The waqif determined – may the Lord accept his good deeds! – from the profit of the shop and the principal, three dirhams a day for the one who is the imam of the said mosque, two dirhams to the one who is the muezzin, and he stipulated that the office of imam and muezzin should remain with his sons and their sons from generation to generation. And he ordered three dirhams to the who is the muallim in the mekteb. He stipulated that the imam should be Hasan bin Husain, as long as he lives. For the hatib, he ordered one dirham per day. He ordered 60 dirhams per year for the candles and carpets in the mosque. And he stipulated that after sabah [dawn prayer] five juz(9)    should be recited in the said mosque, and that one juz should be recited by the one who is the imam of the said mosque, one by the one who is the muallim in the mekteb, one by the one who is the muezzin in the said mosque, and the other two by two good men of the mosque officials. The waqif ordered for those who will recite juz one dirham per day each. He who fails to recite his juz shall not have the right to be paid for that day.

Then the waqif endowed a plot of land in the Visoko čaršija in Visoko, belonging to Sarajevo, bordering to the east with the property of Mustafa son of Turalija, to the west also with his property, from the qibla with the mahala, and to the north with the čaršija road. And on this land he built 21 shops. Then of this land there remained a plot 17 arshins long and 14 arshins wide. The waqif gave this land to Musa called Hrvatinli for an annual muqata'a [portion, share] of 200 dirhams and endowed the profit from this land and from this muqata'a.

The waqif ordered five dirhams for the muallim who will teach at the mekteb built by the waqif in the zawiyya of the city, and what remains will be spent on the maintenance of the shop and the mekteb.

And he endowed 8,000 silver dirhams issued by Sultan Sulayman khan that are in circulation, provided that they are invested in accordance with the provisions of shari’a law, and that the profit is spent on repairing the bridge built by the waqif near Visoko across the river Bosna(10).

Then he endowed 1,000 dirhams for him who will clean the privies close to the Turna dede zawiyya. This sum shall be given for the work and the profit shall be given to him who performs the said work.

The waqif ordered for the mutawalli of the waqf three dirhams per day, and he stipulated that he be the mutawalli as long as he lives, that he appoints and dismisses whom he wishes, and after his death he stipulated this for the best of his sons, and after them the best of his grandsons, generation after generation – may the Lord save them! – and then to him who is selected by the congregation of the said mosque.

The waqif stipulated that once a year the congregation should review the accounts of the waqf with the mutawalli in the said mosque.

The waqif ordered for the nazir [supervisor] one dirham and he stipulated that the nazarat [subject of supervision] and all the mentioned jihhas [offices, duties] belong to his sons and grandsons, generation after generation. If any one of his sons or grandsons is not competent to hold the office he shall appoint deputy. The waqif decreeds that the surplus profit of the waqf and the revenue from the moneys exceeding the needs of the wazif and the waqf facilities belong to himself while alive, and then to his children and grandchildren, generation after generation. The waqif also left one more condition, that the whole congregation of his mosque be the nazir of the waqf and the officials.

After the waqif had endowed everything by a valid endowment and handed it over to the mutawalli, he wanted to renounce the endowment, relying on the opinion of Imami Azam by which one may renounce an endowment, but the judge, whose verdict is found at the beginning of this document, rendered a verdict that the waqf is valid and in effect, and that therefore the said shops and the said sum have become a valid waqf which is recorded in the sijil [court records, from the Arabic for stamp or seal], and a verdict has been issued for it, and that it is valid according to all mazhabs [schools of law] accepted by the mujtahid [interpreter of Islamic precepts], so that it can not be sold or given away or be passed on by inheritance until the whole world and everything upon it remains only to the Lord, and He is the best heir. Then the waqif dismissed the said mutawalli from office, under the terms of the endowment, that the appointment and dismissal of the mutawalli be in his hands. All of this was written and witnessed in the month of Dhu l-Qa’dah 932.

The above witnessed by:

Mevlana Derviš b. Mohamed,

judge

The above witnessed by:

Muhamed b. Alaudin,

hojja

The above witnessed by:

Mahmud B. Bešir,

merd

The above witnessed by:

Hasan b. Husein,

The above witnessed by:

Ahmed hojja b. 

The above witnessed by:

Jusuf b. Nesuh

 

            The deed of endowment begins with the attestations of three Sarajevo judges which states, in translation:

"This vakufnama . . . has become clear and valid before me and I have issued a verdict on its accuracy and validity, in recognition of the disagreement between the imam and the mujtahid – may the Divine pleasure be with them. – Written by this humble man before the sublime and pure Lord, Ubejdullah b. Ahmed, qadi [judge] in the place of combatants in Sarajevo, may the merciful Lord forgive him and his father!

He [the Lord] knows all states!

After inspecting this shari’a deed of endowment and reviewing it from start to finish, I find that it conforms to the provisions of the shari’a and that it can be accepted, and have thus accepted and signed it. Written by the poor sinful servant for the Lord’s forgiveness Abdulah b. Ali b. El-Muejjed, then judge in the place of combatants of Saraj abad. – May he be preserved from all misfortune and may the Lord forgive them ([he judge and his ancestors] and all other Muslims! Thanks to the only Lord! May He grant mercy to him after whom there is no other payghambar [Pers. Messenger or Prophet], his lineage and his companions! May the Lord accept this! In the first decade of Jumada in the 1st year of 948. May the Lord have mercy upon him!

He [the Lord] is eternal!

When I was offered this endowment, I accepted it and signed it, because it conforms to the provisions of the shari’a. I am the poor..... Muhamed Ez-Zebdemi(?)(11) judge in the place of combatants in Sarajevo – may the Merciful Lord forgive him and his father!” (12)   

“The endowment reveals nothing about the benefactor himself. It is clear only that he was a wealthy man, that he had several sons, but their names are not mentioned, and the attribute Muslihul-milleti ved-din, shows that he was a good and respected man.

It is very probable that Visoko was the home of Hajji Mustafa. This can  be deduced from the two endowment buildings that he erected there. This was the way for people paid their their debt to their native land in those days. Thus, the Sokolović Pashas, Mehmed and Mustafa, left endowments in Višegrad and Rudo, and the Great Vizier Rustem Pasha in Sarajevo, the two Kizlaragaćs in Varcar and Ljubinje, the Shaikh-ul-islam Refik ef. in Rogatica, Mehmed Pasha Kukavica in Foča, etc.

Hajji Mustafa must have been a very pious man. His fellow citizens acclaimed him as an evlija [from the Ar. waliyy, friend or companion, by extension a “saintly” man], and he continued to be spoken of as such in Sarajevo until modern times(13).

Hajji Mustafa produced čekreks (wood-turning lathes), which is how he acquired the surname of Čekrekčija. To this day a small wheel that spins in the wind, like a weathervane, can be seen on the dome of his mosque, and the people say that this was made by the benefactor so that future generations may know how he earned the money to build this mosque. It should be noted that this wheel is the sole exception, because the domes of all  other mosques are topped by an ordinary alem (finial). Tradition has it that he used to live where the Park café and the Drina d.d. are now located. His workshop was in his garden, where the Great Park is now.

He decreed that this garden be a graveyard, where he too is buried. His grave can still be seen, but there is no epitaph on it and therefore it is not known when he died(14). His endowment is the first and the last known document mentioning this benefactor. It should, however, be noted that all documents of this age are rarities. Nor is there any reference to the six who witnessed Čekrekčija's endowment. It is quite likely, though, that the first witness mawlana Derviš, son of Muhamed, a judge, could be the same as the judge in the Sarajevo mešćema [court] Derviš hajji and a witness to Gazi Husrevbey’s waqfiyya, written in early Jumada-l-Ula. 938 (around 11 December 1531).

Even the tradition is not backed by any documentary evidence that the present-day Great Park was his garden and that he converted it into a Muslim burial ground, where he was the first to be buried, it is sufficient that the burial ground is known as Čekrekčinica.(15)Until 15 September 1878, when the occupation administration forbade further burials in the city centre for sanitary reasons, Muslims continued to be buried in this graveyard. A number of imams of his mosque were buried next to his grave, the last of whom to be buried there was imam Hajji Hafiz Mustafa Trampa (died in 1863).

The Čekrekčinica burial ground belongs to the Hajji Idris mahala, popularly called Žabljak. This mahala was already in existence somewhat prior to 1565, the year in which the founder of the masjid of this mahala died. The purpose of mentioning this is to indicate that the area in which, according to folk tradition, Muslihudin Čekrekčija lived was sparsely inhabited, so that it was not difficult for him to acquire such a large property. A resident of the same mahala, Salihaga Sloboda, left a good deal of his property for charitable purposes, on which a deed of endowment was written on 3 Jumada-l-Thaniyyah 1272 (10 February 1856), among the provisions of which he stipulates that the revenue from his waqf be used to repair the fence/wall surrounding around the famous large Muslim cemetery called Čekrekčinica.

Sarajevans have passed on from generation to generation the memory of graves of prominent people in their city. The Sarajevo chronicler Bašeskija recorded in his necrology for the year 1181 that bakal dugi Jusufbaša died a sudden death near Čekrekčija’s grave.

It is not known when Cekrekcija’s descendants died out. The necrology by Mula Mustafa Bašeskija records the deaths of two Čekrekčija’s in 1197 AH (1782), at the time of the great plague epidemic; these were Hajji Alija and the old merchant Hajji Mustafa. They were no doubt descendants of this benefactor, because one of them also bears his name of Hajji Mustafa(16).”

            In his work on the mosque and the endowment by Muslihudin Čekrekčija, Hamdija Kreševljaković provides an insight into the significance of the endowment for a study of Sarajevo’s and Visoko’s past:

“It has been noted that this endowments also sheds some light on the past of Sarajevo, and Visoko as well, and whereas the material it provides on the latter has already been used, no researcher into the past of Sarajevo has yet used it. In addition to the fact that we know exactly when the Cekrekcijina mosque was built, which was previously unknown, we also know that its surroundings were part of the mahala of the Isabey zawiyya. As a result, we now know where to look for this zawiyya. But after Čekrekčijina mosque was built, the mahala of the Isabey zawiyya came to be called the Čekrekči Muslihudin mahala. The earliest reference to this name is to be found in Gazi Husrevbey’s second endowment, written ten years later (1536). This means that ten years after this mosque was built, the mahala had also changed its name(17).

We also know that in 1526 the mahala of Sarač Smail was in existence, certainly with its own mosque, built by this benefactor, after whom the mahala was named. Sarač Smail was certainly still alive at that date, because the word merhum [the late] does not feature before his name in this endowment, as it does in the case of other deceased benefactors, Isabey, Ajas Pasha and Firuzbey. Now we also have some information for Firuzbey’s biography, that he died between 1513 and 1526.

It has been said so far that the Sabre market extended around the present-day Central Hotel, whereas this endowment shows that it also extended beyond the building of the city savings bank, because the water from Ajas Pasha’s hammam ran down to the river Miljacka just below the Latinska Cuprija [Latin bridge]. The channel through which this water flowed later ran along Kujundžiluk Street.

The Sabre market was in the Ajas Pasha mahala, and probably also included the mahala of Mehmedbeg Minetović. There were numerous shops in this čaršija, of which 22 belonged to this waqf, and there were also other owners, among whom Hajji Alija Terzija is mentioned. This Hajji Alija would be the same as the founder of the small masjid in Balibegovica(18) which is officially known as the masjid of Terzibaša Hajji Alija, because it is known that his endowment in 1565 had property in the Sabre market in the Ajas Pasha mahala. Terzija Hajji Alija became the terzibaša (the chief of the terzije [tailors’ guild) after 1526, and he died some time before 1565; his masjid was also built between these two dates.

We know from this source that Turna-dedo zawiyya, which was next to the Čekrekčija mosque, was in existence in Sarajevo at that time. This can be seen from Gazi Husrevbey’s endowment, written on 26th Rajab of 943 (20 January 1536). According to the endowment, Gazi Husrevbey’s endowment for his medresa included property in the Čekrekči mahala in Sarajevo: a residential property consisting of two houses, a summer residence, a stable, a courtyard, a shop, a warehouse and a butchery, known under the name of Turna-Dedet’s property, which bordered with an Islamic graveyard, a public road and Vojvoda [duke, dux] Kemal’s property. This Islamic graveyard is one of the two graveyards in present-day Kovaci street, the only two graveyards in the Čekrekčija mahala(19).This is roughly where the first known public privies were in Sarajevo, for which Čekrekčija ordered a wage to be paid to the person who cleaned them. It is worth noting that at this time, and even much later, there were no public toilets in Europe’s major cities, and not even in the palaces of some European rulers.

For the time being it is still unknown where Ajas Pasha’s source was, next to which Čekrekčija had endowed 5 shops(20).”

No written evidence of the Čekrekčinica mosque has been found pertaining to the period between the time when the endowment itself was written and the end of the 17th century,

“During the invasion by Prince Eugene of Savoy (1697) Sarajevo was ravaged by fire, which turned the city into a heap of ashes. Of the 104 mosques in Sarajevo at the time, only 12 were spared by the fire, among them the Čekrekčijina mosque. The national appeal sent to the Porte by Sarajevans in 1706, asking for assistance for the repair and maintenance of the destroyed mosques, notes that this mosque is used for prayer and that its waqf pays the mosque officials out of the profit from the shops. It is interesting that all the fires that swept Sarajevo, which were very frequent, tended to avoid this mosque, except the one of 9 July 1842. This fire also damaged this mosque slightly, and to this day traces of fire damage can be seen on the window to the left of the mihrab.

Nothing is known of the gate of the mekteb in the Sarač Smail mahala, nor of the waqf or the endowments in Visoko.

The entire waqf which this endowment refers to declined with the passage of time. In 1878 the waqf consisted of 10 shops and a house, later converted into a warehouse. These were the shops surrounding the mosque; the date when they were built is not known. They were in existence prior to 1851(21). Fires, together with human carelessness and neglect on the part of the jamaat [congregation] must have destroyed this waqf, despite the fine provisions of the noble benefactor. When the source of revenue for the mosque vanished, then one of its mutawellis built the shops around the mosque itself, where there were probably none originally.

In 1889 the revenues of this waqf were 565 florins, expenditure 520 florins, and cash 200 florins. Among the officials referred to were the imam, two muezzins, vaiz [preacher, predicator], devrihan [from Ar. dawr, rotation, in reference to the custom of distributing money from a deceased’s estate to the poor], feraš [Ar. farrash, valet, errand boy] and mutawalli, with total salaries of 375.5 florins per annum. By this time there was no office of džuzhan [person charged with daily recitations of a juz in the mosque] and devrihanluk was introduced instead, but it is not known when this took place. Thus two muhdes džihets [offices not provided for in the endowment] can be seen here, the post of vaiz and an additional muezzin.

Prior to 1913 the posts of devrihan and the second muezzin were abolished. At this time the waquf owned the same real property as in 1889, but had no remaining cash. The revenues were 1883 crowns, and expenditure 1549 crowns.

One endowment for this mosque is known of. Around 1770, Hajji Osman Tirjatlija, son of Hajji Bektaš(22), endowed 12 purses of riches and stipulated a portion of it for the mosque. It could be that at the time this wakf was already exhausted, because it needed outside help(23).”

The following information has been found concerning the religious officials of the Čekrekčinica mosque: “Under the terms of the endowment, the first imam was one Hasan, son of Husain. In the early days of 1557, this office was performed by Muhjudin halifa, son of Kasim(24).  Between this time and 1761, it is not known who the imam of the mosque was. A submission dated 7/I  1175, (8 August 1761)(25) reveals that this post was held by one Omer efendi. The endowment reveals that the imam of the Čekrekči Muslihudin mosque, Hajji Osman efendi, was in office on the occasion of the creation of an endowment on 21st Shawwal 1203 (15 July 1788) as temporary mutawalli.

For many years the muezzin was Ahmad ef. Samsarija, who died in 1199 (1785) at the age of 95(26). It is not known for how long he performed this office, but only that he was in this post in 1761. He was also the mutawalli of this mosque, but it is not known for how long he performed this service either. It seems that the Samsarija family held this office until the 1870s. During the occupation of Bosnia, the mutawalli was Mulaga Smajš, a kazandžija [coppersmith making various large copper vessels] by profession. He was succeeded by Mehmed Njemčević (around 1885 until his death in 1916), and he by his son Muhamedaga (1916-1918); the latter in turn was succeeded by his son Edhem, who was dismissed in 1928. Since then, this mosque has had no mutawalli, whose services are performed by a board of trustees.

The office of imam and hatib of the Čekrčijina mosque was held by Hajji Hafiz Mustafa Trampa for almost forty years (1825-1863). He also acted as bedel [substitute on the pilgrimage for those who are unable to perform it themselves], performing the Hajj 23 times. He was the son of Mehmed bajraktar, born in 1802 in Sarajevo in Trampina street, died in 1863, and was buried in the Čekrekčinica graveyard not far from Čekrekčija’s grave. His grave now has no gravestone. He left three sons: Hajji Alija, Muhamad and Abdullatifa: the first was a kazaz [maker of silk haberdashery], the second an arzuhaldžija [composer of petitions] and the third inherited the office from his father.

Hajji Hafiz Abdulatif was born in 1839, and after his father’s death became the imam and hatib, holding the post until 1904, when he died suddenly. He also acted as bedel, performing the Hajj 19 times. Hajji Hafiz Abdullatif Trampa was among the detainees sent to Olomuc by General Filipović after the conquest of Sarajevo, and when the prisoners were given permission to perform religious worship, H. H. Abdullatif was their imam.

After the death of H. H. Abdulatif, his son Yusuf briefly held the office of imam and hatib, but his appointment was not made permanent; Muhamed ef. Džumhur, born in Konjic, was appointed instead of him.

Džumhur resigned from the post in 1907, and was replaced by Hafiz Mehmed Jakić, he by H. Hafiz Kazandžić, and he in turn by the famous qari’ [Qur’an reciter] Hajji Hafiz Šakir ef. Tuzlo,  who remained in office until his death (on 14 April 1934) (27) .

Tuzlo’s successor and present-day imam and hatib is Hajji Mehmed ef. Potogija, a long-term dersiam [teacher] of the Gazi Husrevbey mosque and temporary fetva-emin [senior religious official responsible for issuing fatwas, Islamic legal opinions].

As an aside, for ten years Hajji Hafiz Mustafa Čadordžija prayed hatma teravija [Ar. khatma tarawi, recitation of the entire Qur’an after evening prayers during the month of Ramadan] for ten years in this mosque (1923-1933) (28) .

Today(29) the muezzin of this mosque is Hajji Hafiz Smail Fazlić, preceded, over the past sixty or so years, by muezzins Alija Dedić, Sulejman Olovčić, Muharem Paralija, Sulejman Divović, Sulejman Čagura, Omer Džinić and Sulejman Sulejmanović(30).”

 

2. Description of the Property

The building measures approx. 17.90 x 17.54 m on the outside(31), and is surrounded on three sides by shops of a later date(32). Since shops were built alongside this mosque on all sides except to the south, the sofas abutting onto the northwest and northeast walls of the central body of the mosque are not noticeable; a further unusual feature for Sarajevo is that they were built at first floor level too(33).

In terms of the type of the dome structure, with an inside radius of approx. 4.95 metres, over the central prayer space (which measures 10.50 x 10.40 metres on the inside), which appears very shallow as seen from outside, was classified by the historian H. Kreševljaković as belonging to the architectural school of mimar Hajrudin(34), while in terms of the manner in which the composition of the minaret and the mosque is formed(35), it is a rare example for Bosnia and Herzegovina(36). 

Solid oak double entrance doors, with a single fanlight, lead into the vestibule of the central prayer space of the mosque. This entrance area to the northwest, which is 210 cm wide and 778 cm long, and is centrally placed in relation to the building itself, is at a higher level than the pavement outside the entrance door, with the difference resolved by two steps measuring 2 x 18 cm, and is paved with stone slabs. 

To the left and right of the entrance area are the sofas, of which the right-hand one was used until 1999 to take abdest [ritual ablutions], and has the original niches cut into the massive stone walls(37).Since the rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction works carried out 1999-2000, in the right-hand side sofa, there is now a double-flight(38) wooden staircase alongside the northwest and southwest wall leading to the mahfil or gallery that runs along the northwest and northeast walls of the central body of the mosque. In the case of domed mosques, the sofas are normally domed too, but there are no such domes in Čekrekčija’s mosque, and the research works undertaken in 1997-2000 revealed no traces suggesting that the portico was originally covered by small domes.

At one time an additional room was built in the extension to the left-hand side sofa, following on one side the line of the northeast façade of the building and on the other side the shape of the surrounding area, giving it a triangular ground plan. Prior to the rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction works of 1999-2000, a single-flight wooden staircase located in the left corner led to the attic. During the reconstruction of the sofas in 1999-2000, a facility for taking abdest was installed in the easternmost part of the sofa, on the northeast side; this is reached through a solid oak door at the east end of the ground floor of the sofa. The abdest facility is some 0.18 metres lower in level than the level of the floor of the peripheral ground floor sofas, and its floor is paved with machine-cut stone slabs, which also cover the walls of the abdest facility up to window sill height.

The sofa floors are made of 1st grade cut deal wood, laid in strips throughout. The floor boards vary in width from 15 to 30 cm, are all of the same length, and are tongued and grooved; they are glued to a subfloor of screed and nailed to an underflooring of 1st grade 8/5 cm deal. All the other wooden floors in the mosque are covered with carpets.

The original door of wrought iron set in the centre of the northwest wall of the building  serves as the entrance into the mosque itself(39). Previously there was a double-flight wooden staircase in the right-hand corner, within the central mosque space, leading to the mahfil or gallery extending along the whole northwest side of the building on the inside. After the 1999-2000rehabilitation, restoration and reconstruction work, this staircase was not rebuilt, in line with the project design. Access to the mahfil, as well the interconnection between the mahfil and the first-floor peripheral sofas, is through a window on the northwest façade which, once the sill was removed, was turned into a door, with the difference in height(40) between the level of the mahfil and the first floor resolved by the addition of four steps.

The central prayer space of the mosque is in ground plan an irregular square, with sides varying in length from 10.35 to 10.55 metres, and diagonals of 14.96 and 15.00 meters. This space is enclosed by the outside walls, which are some 7 metres in height(41), with the supporting trompes(42) at a height of as much as 3.30 metres approx, and the apex of their frontal arches at 5.50 metres above floor level of the central space. There are shallow rebated arches between the trompes, and the transition into the dome ring is achieved by spherical triangles. The drum, which is barely visible from the inside, and whose upper edge is not indicated by a string course on the inside, is topped by a slightly ellipsoid, shallow calotte.  The crown is at a height of only 12.20m, and the entire dome, when viewed from the outside, gives the impression of being flattened, given that the dome is sunk back into the drum.  The geometric centre of the dome is set very low, at +7.22 metres(43), in relation to the height of the drum, the base of which is at about +7.50 to +7.60 m(44).It is this flattening that led Prof. Kreševljaković to assume that the builder was of the school of mimar Hajrudin.  There was a dome, with a calotte of similar shape, on the oldest domed mosque in Sarajevo, endowed by Mustafa-bey Skenderpašić (1517).

In the central mosque space, the movable wooden elements were dilapidated from wear and tear, as a result of which the mahfil and ćurs were completely remade in oak, to designs based on the principle of “new for old”.

The mimbar is simple, with the lower part enclosed by masonry with niches on both sides, and the upper part of wood.

The mosque has a regular rhythm of window openings set on three levels. All the window openings are original(45). The first row consists of the ground-floor windows, with two on each façade except for the minaret façade, which has only one. These windows, measuring approx. 85 x 150 cm(46), have no arches, but are flat-topped. The second row of windows is at first floor level. The windows at this level, measuring approx. 75 x 145 cm,  are set centrally in the walls lengthwise, with one on each side of the wall. Unlike the ground floor windows, these terminate in pointed arches. The third and uppermost row of windows is in the dome, or rather in the drum, and are almost identical in shape to the first-floor windows, except that they are rather smaller in size and are shifted horizontally by 45 degrees in relation to the former.

The interior of the mosque is lighted by four dome windows, unusually set above the diagonals of the basic body of the building, above the corner trompes, and by the three windows on each of the main walls. The exception here is not the portico wall, as is usually the rule, but on the minaret wall, which in this case is shifted from the corner of the building towards the middle of the southwest wall. Here the builder not only built the fourteen-sided minaret on this side wall, which he therefore reinforced on the outside at this point  by some half a metre; he even inset the rectangular base of the minaret by 1.30 m into the inside space of the mosque, up to a height of 4.73 m. The minaret staircase is entered from the ground floor of the mosque.  This resulted not only in the inevitable omission of the usual second window at ground-floor level and an awkward compression of the rebated arch, as well as the shifting of the upper window from the transverse symmetral, but also the inevitable narrowing of the circular section of the dome into a slight ellipse.  All this, however, is concealed from the outside by the regular octagonal drum.

The builder of the minaret, faced with a challenging geometrical problem, was highly successful in resolving it, since the shaft of the minaret cuts into the dome and is executed with a spatial dilatation of approx. 10-15 cm in relation to the wall of the dome.

            The dome, the area beneath the dome, the area above the mihrab, and the wall surfaces arecovered with ornaments of geometric and plant origin, and the arches above the trompes and the windows contain friezes of plant and geometric origin.  These ornaments, with their oriental stylistic features, are disposed in symmetrical compositions and regular frieze patterns. The crown of the dome contains a rosette from which radiate out eight vertical rows of interlinked panels filled with floral ornamentation.  The crowns of the demicalottes of the trompes are painted with petalled flowers from which radiate out four vertical rows of interlinked panels filled with floral ornamentation.  At the top and base of the drum are friezes of geometric origin, while the space between the friezes, painted with pillars with capitals, are separated into panels in which there are alternating geometric motifs of windows with flower vases and floral friezes with motifs of stylized trees with blossoming crowns, growing in flower pots.

The panel around the mihrab is filled with closely intertwined floral ornaments; the colours used are red, light blue, pale green, brown and orange. A relief of four rows of stalactites at the top of the hemispherical niche of the mihrab is additionally emphasized by painting geometrical areas in light grey, light green and orange. The panel below the first row of stalactites is decorated with a floral decoration consisting of five budding branches with yellow flower buds in a row. To the left and right of the mihrab, at both lower and first-floor window level, are painted motifs of stylized trees with floral crowns or leaves, growing in flower pots. The lunettes above the windows and the entrance porch are painted in geometrical and floral motifs; the colours used are light green, blue, orange, red, and light grey.

Traditional materials were used to build the mosque – stone (lime stone), Turkish brick (tavela), wood, wrought iron, sheets  of lead and copper – using traditional techniques.

From the foundations themselves to the base of the dome, the material used was cut limestone, forming massive walls 118-124 cm thick. Turkish brick was used for the arches above the windows, at the points where the transition is effected from the square ground plan into the dome (spherical triangles), and for the dome itself. Tufa was used for the shaft of the minaret, because it is easy to cut and dress, whereas the pedestal was made of limestone .

The stone is not highly finished, only as much as necessary to obtain an even wall surface.   Test probes of the wall material indicated that the infill material of the walls has deteriorated badly, and that the lime mortar is of extremely poor quality, which also suggests that the mosque was plastered on the outside even before the 1997-2000 works.

Timber was used for the hatula tie beams, window lintels, movable furnishings and fixtures (staircase, ćurs, mahfil, floors and floor construction, as well as for the structure of the roof and outer sofas, for the construction of some of the outer walls of the outbuildings  of the mosque, and for woodwork: windows, doors, ceilings, using various types of wood and processed and finished in various ways). Wrought iron was used to make the window bars, doorknobs, hinges and nails. The original cladding of the dome was lead, but now it is clad with sheet copper.

Rainwater is collected from the roofs above the outer sofas via gutters of 1 inch deal faced with copper sheeting 0.55 mm thick. The gutters are attached to the rafters by special  flat iron sections, with a longitudinal fall of two per cent. Rainwater from the roof is led to the lower roofs of the shops by means of sheet copper spouts mounted at the points where the roof surfaces change direction horizontally.

The roof of the minaret was replaced, and new 0.55 mm sheet copper was laid over a layer of roof insulation. The existing alems on the dome and the minaret, made of sheet copper, are replicas of the old ones made on the principle of “new for old”.

As part of the 1997-2000 works, underfloor heating was installed, supplemented by radiator heating (in the abdest space).

There was no graveyard next to the mosque itself, and the Čekrekčinica graveyard, at some 1.5 km from the mosque building, has been described above in the historical section.

 

3. Current legal status

By Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of NR BiH Sarajevo, no. 02-609-3/62 dated 18 April 1962, the Čekrekči Muslihudin mosque in Sarajevo was placed under state protection and entered on the Register of immovable cultural monuments. 

The Regional Plan foer Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1980 listed the property as a Category I cultural and historical monument.

The property is on the Provisional List of the Commission for Preservation of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, under the name of the Čekrekčija Mosque in Sarajevo, serial number 542,.

 

4. Conservation and restoration works

            In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a part structural rehabilitation of the walls of the mosque was carried out, by installing three rings of flattened iron, which were sunk into the wall mass, but the problems associated with the structural rehabilitation of the building go back almost thirty years.  

Between 1997 and 2000, an extensive Project of works on the structural rehabilitation, reconstruction and restoration of the Čekrekči Muslihudin mosque was carried out. The investor for the entire project was the Sarajevo Canton, and the authority responsible for the project was the Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo. This extensive project was conducted in the stages listed below, which can summed up in three overall stages:

  • Stage one – implementation of the project of complete structural rehabilitation and consolidation of the building.
  • Stage two – provides for architectural rehabilitation and reconstruction.
  • Stage three – consists of the restoration and reconstruction of all the painted surfaces in the building.         

Detailed technical screening for the Čekrekčinica mosque building began in early 1997 and was finalized in early 1998.  The screening was conducted by Amira Arnautović, Salahudin Handžić and Pavle Mašić, architects from the Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo.

Simultaneously with this, trial probes were carried out on the foundations to identify the cause of the crack at the point where the mosque and the minaret meet, and the cause of the cracks on the mosque dome. Inside the mosque, large cracks were visible on all four sides of the building, extending almost from the floor up to the apex of the dome, dividing the building into four parts. The worst crack was at the point where the shaft of the minaret joins the main body of the mosque. In some places, the cracks were between 10 and 15 cm wide.

Trial probes were also carried out on the wall decorations, providing new information that led to detailed research.  This was carried out by Mr. Esad Vesković, conserver-restorer, Esad Ćesović, academic painter and postgraduate student of conservation and restoration, and Mirna Jamaković, academic designer and postgraduate student of conservation and restoration. The study was carried out by means of probes in order to discover and identify the existence of previous painted surfaces and coats of plaster. The probes were opened at points where it could be assumed that painted decorations (ornaments) might be found. Since the basic purpose of the research was to establish the existence of painted surfaces of value dating from different periods, testing was done on a small scale, with about twenty probes. The places investigated were the mihrab, the mimber, other lower-level wall surfaces, the accessible wall surfaces in mahfil, the accessible surfaces of the drum, and the calotte.

            The findings of the research and conservation works associated with paintings on parts of the interior of the Muslihudin-Čekrekčija mosque in Sarajevo in 1997 were:

“The research works by means of probes established the existence of older layers dating from various periods, from the oldest surviving layer on the mihrab, assumed to be the first painted layer, dating back to the 16thcentury, up to the last painted decoration (current condition) dating back to the first half of the 20th century. The research results are classified by the places at which the findings were made, as more surviving layers were found on the mihrab than elsewhere. With the exception of the most recent existing painted decoration in the interior of the mosque, most were traces of painting dating from the 19th century (almost every probe revealed traces from this period), that is the “popular” or “folk” style of non-stencilled decorative painting (close in colours and style to the 19th century painted decorations in the Careva mosque, but of much poorer quality).

Mihrab

  • On the mihrab, the most recent coat is of brown oil point, probably in imitation of stone (Illus.1,2).
  • Below this coat is a green paint, first a darker coat and then a lighter one (Illus. 3). It is indicated as a single layer, given that the difference in shades is the result of surface oxidating, or that the darker one resulted from the application of a coat of varnish. There is no painted decoration on these layers.
  • The painted layer beneath the coats of oil paint are an interim stage between the existing painted surface and the 19th century painted surface (“folk” style); during this research it was found only on the mihrab (Illus. 4, 5 and 6).  The background colour is yellowish ochre, and the binding component varies from place to place depending on the physical and chemical factors affecting the degradation of the binding component. This is a floral decoration repeated regularly on the vertical frieze around the mihrab niche.  The technique used is probably tempera.  The drawing was executed in black, in free strokes, and consists of a garland of roses running around the mihrab niche.  The predominant colour is bright crimson for the flowers and a darkish green for the leaves.
  • The next painted layer is also in the “popular style” (illus. 7 and 8) that has already been noted as present in all the probes. In addition to the fact that it is the least well preserved on the mihrab, it is also of the poorest quality (the least valuable) by comparison with the same painted layer on the other surfaces examined.  The assumption is that it is poorly preserved because of the way the next coat of paint that covers it was applied.  The arch of the mihrab niche is surrounded by a thick pale green (mignonette green) line and then by a floral border.  The triangular panels above the arch are painted ultramarine blue, which is also the predominant colour of this painted layer.  The floral garland is in the same shades, drawn with free but clumsy strokes, resembling rather an outline sketch of the design to be painted.  The expression “popular style” is used in the text as a simpler description of the 19th century layer, since it has largely survived on the interior surfaces of the mosque; the term “folk painting” or such like could also have been used, since this is not a specifically defined style.

 

The base coat for this painted layer is plaster with sawdust (illus. 9 and 10), which was applied after the 1842 fire.  It varies in thickness from 0.5 to 3 cm, depending on the evenness of the surface to which it was applied – old plaster, wooden beams or stone.  It is impregnated with sawdust, compact and elastic, but not very solid.  In some places the plaster has become detached from the underlying surface, because that surface was poor, but also as a result of various physical and chemical influences (tectonic shifts, damp, salt. . .)  Where the probes reached through to the original plaster the precise form is lost, deformed by being unskillfully shaped.  This is particularly marked on relief decorative elements – the stalactites in the mihrab niche.

The oldest painted decoration was found in a state of preservation only on the mihrab, though some remains were also found on the arched areas above the mahfil, on the northwest wall of the mosque, where the paint was burned off by fire and only vestiges remain.

The mihrab niche is surrounded by a floral border (illus. 11 and 12), the features of which are reminiscent of the border around the right-hand mihrab of the portico of the Aladža mosque (1550-51). The border consists of typical forms of rumi motifs, in the form of highly stylized and densely intertwined branches with leaves, buds, tendrils and flowers.  Ornaments of this kind have no central motif, but form an uninterrupted band of elements of equal weight interlinked by spiral and wavy lines, giving the impression that they have sprung from somewhere in the infinite distance to which they are also returning. This is pure arabesque.  Even if the odd flower is found, it is lost in the clusters of lines. The colours used are pastel tones of the most common shades: green, blue, red and yellow. The stability and durability of this painted layer is poor, as seen in the flaking and rubbing of the painted layer. In the mihrab niche itself, remains of the same painted layer were found: there are floral elements, branches with buds and heart-shaped flowers, on the square surfaces below the relief decorations – the stalactites (illus. 14).

The existing painted layer is on a plaster base that was exposed to fire, as were the majority of the painted surfaces dating from that time.

Mimber

The sides of the mimber are covered by several coats of oil paint and lacquer (illus 15). Below the coats of oil paint are faint traces of the painted layer which, judging from the plaster base with sawdust, could be defined as the 19th century "popular style". On the opposite, southwest side, the niche in the mimber is surrounded by a 3 cm thick orange line, which also belongs to this period. Below this plaster layer is the “original” mortar that was burned in the fire.  Probes into this plaster revealed no traces of any painted surfaces.

Other wall surfaces at ground floor level of the mosque           

The surfaces of the lower reaches of the walls, up to a height of 1.60 m, are covered in greasy oil paint and brown lacquer (illus 18).  Probes in several places revealed no traces of older painted layers.  The plaster surfaces were impregnated with sawdust (more recent plaster), whereas the older plaster, present only in some places, is of carbonate composition with no specific fillers.

            Probes around the windows and on the walls between them revealed the existence of the 19th century painted layer, so the wall surfaces at this level may be assumed to have been largely painted, which further research will be able to confirm (illus 16, 17 and 19).  The most interesting painted detail to be found is an arabesque above a window.  The fragments discovered indicate that this painting was competently executed.  The arabesque is arched in form, with a central motif that also features on the dome.  The composition is symmetrical, with the centre occupied by a bold, characteristically stylized pomegranate flower between whose petals emerge curved, toothed leaves.  The stems of the flowers and leaves intertwine between them, forming a geometric interweave.  The dominant blue of the background is typical of all the painted surfaces of this period (19th century) to be found.  The leaves and interweave, like the pomegranate flower, are in a combination of cinnabar red and grey.  The calligraphically-drawn outline is black. The arabesque is surrounded by a wide border within which are spiral floral decorations (vines) in green on a grey ground, with black outlines.   Small probes confirmed that all the surfaces above the windows are painted in this way.

Mahfil

A number of probes were made on the walls accessible from the mahfil.  In addition to the existing, most recent layer, two further painted layers were discovered.  One is the “popular style” already referred to, and the other is the oldest layer, of which only faint traces remain (remnants of the border on the arch above the northwest window, illus. 26).  Two coats of paint, probably applied in a short space of time and on the same plaster base coat, are to be found on the arched surfaces above the trompes in the north corner (illus 26).It is possible that the first of these coats was used as the initial undercoat for painting this surface, or that originally only the arched areas were painted, or the edges of these arched areas, and that painted decoration was added around them later.

            Painted floral decorations belonging to the “popular style” were found on the arch above the window facing the portico and on the arched areas above the trompes. The decorations were painted without the use of a stencil (illus. 22, 23) and extend in the form of a frieze over the entire arch surface.  Spiral black stems with green leaves and red three-petalled flowers and buds wind over a grey background framed with a blue and a black line.  There is a red geometrized ornament in the central part of the trompes themselves, and the same ornament, smaller in size, is repeated on surface of the lower band of the trompes, but this time in green (illus. 24).

            Probes of the decorative reliefs in the west corner above the staircase and the east corner about the ćurs revealed painted decoration in the “popular style”.  The decoration here is reduced to a simple black zigzag line following the outline of the relief decoration (illus. 27, 28).

Accessible surfaces of the drum and dome

Probes of these areas where it was possible (where scaffolding had been erected), revealed a wealth and diversity of ornaments, and suggest that the entire surface of the drum and calotte were painted. For the most part this research revealed the 19th century layer from the, so that the following descriptions pertain to it. Deeper probes did not confirm the presence of an older painted layer (except for burned mortar areas).

            The edge of the drum is coloured “vase” (terracotta?) red (illus. 30, 39), from which semicircular lines emerge and intertwine, creating a regular frieze.  Above the frieze, on the surfaces between the windows, pillars with capitals alternate with stylized trees with blossoming crowns, growing in red flower pots (illus. 34, 36, 37, 38).  The flowers and leaves composing the crowns of the trees are executed in much the same way as those on the frieze above the trompes, but in a different colour scheme.  The base and top of the pillars are surrounded by blue borders, which extend over the entire edge of the drum.  Vertical chains of interlinked medallions filled with pomegranate flowers (the central motif of the arabesque above the windows) radiate outwards from the apex of the dome.  These chains of medallions terminate in the blue border above the capitals of the pillars.   Stylized buds feature on this border, between the chains (illus. 40, 41, 42).

            Floral ornamental of the same type as those previously described (on the arch above the trompes, illus. 43) was also found on the southwest wall arch.  There is a fragment of a red medallion at the same height at the point where the minaret joins the wall (close to the crack) (illus. 44).

Note: Probes revealed proved that before the most recent layer was painted, the wall surface was painted white.

Conclusion

Probes of the wall surfaces inside the mosque resulted in the discovery and identification of a number of painted layers. The work methodology was based on probing at various positions within the building, in order to reach a final conclusion through subsequent comparison.

Five painted layers were identified on the surface of the mihrab, of which certainly the most valuable is the oldest layer – beyond any doubt, this should receive the most attention. The whole of the painted surface of the mihrab from that period should be uncovered in further conservation interventions. These surfaces need to be given conservation treatment to protect and preserve them, which will entail securing around the plaster areas, injecting any cracks or bubbles, fixing the existing painted layer, reconstruction and retouching the paintings.

As regards the 19th century painted layer, which is widely present on the wall surfaces of the mosque as well as the existing layer, it may safely be said that various craftsmen  possessed of different degrees of skill executed these (variations in the quality of execution of the various decorations in different places).  The need to preserve and present the most valuable painted surfaces of this layer should be borne in mind(47).”

In mid-1998, works started on dismantling the dilapidated elements of the interior – mahfil, ćurs, floorboards, etc. Simultaneously with these works, further research was conducted in order to establish the authentic level of the floor, the authentic connection between the body of the mosque with the surrounding structures, and the like.

The works involving structural stabilization and the reconstruction and restoration of the building began in 1999, and were completed in late 2000.

The structural rehabilitation works were carried out by the company ŽGP from Sarajevo. A lime-based compound was used to inject all the cracks, both on the walls and the dome of the building, with only the larger cracks closed – that is, consolidated – by building in additional materials from which the relevant parts of the structure were originally built. According to Pavle Mašić, who designed the project for the architectural rehabilitation and reconstruction of the building, during the structural rehabilitation works on the building over 20 tonnes of injection compound were used. A separate type of consolidation was used for the dome of the mosque, which was composed of carbon fibre tape on the outer coating of the dome(48).

            After completion of the works of structural rehabilitation and consolidation of the building, work began simultaneously on the restoration and reconstruction of the painted surfaces and of the architecture of the building itself. This took place along two lines:

  • restoration based on scientific research works, which in this case were conducted only on the painted surfaces,
  • another which unites two principles: the principle of restoration, in the case of the central mosque area, and that of reconstruction, in the case of the outer sofas and ancillary premises.

 

The first principle was applicable only to a certain extent, given that with the course of time the mosque had suffered so many changes and interventions that it was impossible to restorre it to its original state. This refers mainly to the building of the shops around the mosque, and the various elements of the mosque fixtures and furnishings, which like the woodwork are not original.  Restoration was applicable to some extent only to the painted surfaces and the treatment of the façades.

            The painting conservation works in the interior of the Čekrekčinica mosque were carried out by conserver-restorers Nihad Bahtijarević and Enes Halimić.

The artisanal building works then continued, including the removal of the plaster from all the surfaces where there were no wall decorations, and replastering them; the complete reconstruction of the outer sofas of the building, and floors laid on the authentic level identified, as a result of which the link between them and the outside world – the square – had to be regulated by introducing steps that were not there before.   The level of both the square and the floor of the mosque had in the past been raised considerable above the original levels(49).In line with the blueprints of the current condition, the new interior elements were made of oak. The dome was clad with sheet copper, the outer walls of the building were plastered, and the roof structure of the entrance area was clad with hollow tiles. Works were also carried out to the outward appearance of the minaret. The artisanal building works were carried out by the company Neimari of Sarajevo.

 

5. Current condition of the property

During an inspection of the condition of the property on August 16, 2004, it was found to be in good condition, well maintained and in use.

 

III – CONCLUSION

Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.

The Decision was based on the following criteria:

A.  Time frame

B.  Historical value

C.  Artistic and aesthetic value

C. i. quality of workmanship

C.iii. proportions

C.iv. composition

C. v. value of details

D. Clarity

D. iv. evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner

D. v. evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period

E. Symbolic value

E.ii. religious value

E.iii. traditional value

E.iv. relation to rituals or ceremonies

E.v. significance for the identity of a group of people

G. Authenticity

G.iv. traditions and techniques

G.v. location and setting

G.vi. spirit and feeling

 

            The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-     Copy of cadastral plan

-     Proof of title;

-     Photodocumentation;

-     Drawings

   

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the historic building of the Cekrekcinica (Cekrekci Muslihudin mosque in Sarajevo a national monument of BiH, the following reference works were consulted:

                                   

1938     Kreševljaković, Hamdija: Džamija i vakufnama Muslihuddina Čekrekčije (The Mosque and Endowment of Muslihuddin Čekrekčija), Bulletin of the Islamic Religious Community of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Year 4 (1938), no. 1, pp.17-38, Sarajevo

           

1958     Čekrekcije Muslihudina džamija u Sarajevu (The Čekrekcija Muslihudin Mosque in Sarajevo), Bulletin of the Supreme Islamic Leadership in FNRY, Year 9, 1958, nos. 9-12, pp. 560-562,  Sarajevo

           

1968     Bašeskija Mula Mustafa: Ljetopis (Chronicle), Sarajevo, 1968, 

           

1977     Esad Vesković, Esad Ćesović and Mirna Jamaković: Istraživački slikarsko-konzervatorski radovi na dijelovima enterijera Muslihudin-Čekrekčijine džamije u Sarajevu  (Research and artistic conservation works on parts of interior of the Muslihudin-Čekrekčija Mosque in Sarajevo), Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, December 1977

           

1983.    Redžić, Husref: Studije o islamskoj arhitektonskoj baštini (Studies on the Islamic Architectural Heritage),  Sarajevo 1983

           

1988.    Mujezinović, Mehmed: Islamska epigrafika Bosne i Hercegovine (Islamic Epigraphics of Bosnia and Herzegovina), bk. I – Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1988

           

1998     Džemal Čelić, Mehmed Mujezinović: Stari mostovi u Bosni i Hercegovini (Old Bridges in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Sarajevo, 1998

           

1999     Main Project for the Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reconstruction of the Čekrekči-Muslihudin Mosque in Sarajevo, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, July 1999

           

2000.    Werner Mueller, Gunther Vogel: Atlas arhitekture (Atlas of Architecture), Volume 1, Zagreb, 2000

 

(1) Mujezinović, Mehmed: Islamic Epigraphics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Volume I – Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1988, p. 227

(2) Domed mosques built in Bosnia and Herzegovina, chronological overview (by year of construction):

  • Balagija (Balaguša) mosque in Livno, built in 1514
  • Mustafa Skenderpašić (Skenderija) mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1517 (the mosque was demolished in 1935 and its minaret in 1960)
  • in Blagaj: Sultan-Sulejman (Careva) mosque, built in 1519 (it was domed until 1892, but during reconstruction, the dome was replaced by a polygonal roof)
  • Čekrekči-Muslihudin mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1526
  • Havadže Durak (Baščaršija) mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1528
  • Sinan-čauš (Džumanuša) mosque in Livno, built in 1529
  • Gazi Husrev-bey mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1531
  • Hasan-aga (Jeni) mosque in Travnik, built in 1549
  • Hasan Nezir (Aladža) mosque in Foča, built in 1550
  • Kuršumlija mosque in Kladanj built in the first half of the 16th century
  • Buzadži hajji Hasan (Logavina) mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1555
  • Karađoz-bey mosque in Mostar, built in 1557
  • Hadim Ali-pasha mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1561,
  • Ferhad-bey (Ferhadija) mosque in Sarajevo, 1562
  • Hajji Alija mosque in Počitelj, built in 1562
  • Nesuh-aga Vučjaković mosque in Mostar, built in 1564
  • Careva mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1565
  • Selimija mosque in Knežina, built in 1566-67
  • Lala-pasha (Beglučka, or Beglek) mosque in Livno, built in 1567
  • Sinan-bey Boljanić mosque in Čajniče, built in 1570
  • Mehmed-čauš mosque in Konjic, built in 1579
  • Hajji Ahmed Dukatar (Glavica) mosque in Livno, built in 1588
  • Ferhad-pasha (Ferhadija) mosque in Banja Luka, built in 1579
  • Ahmed-pasha (Čaršija) mosque in Gračanica, built in 1593;
  • Deftedar (Arnaudija) mosque in Banja Luka, built in  1594
  • Kzlar-aga mosque in Mrkonjić-Grad, built in 1595
  • Lala-pasha mosque in Tomislav-grad (Duvno) built in the second half of the 16th century
  • Jusuf-pasha (Kuršumlija) mosque in Maglaj, built in the second half of the 16th century
  • Koski Mehmed-pasha mosque in Mostar, built in 1612
  • Mehmed-pasha Kukavica mosque in Foča, built in 1751
  • Esma Sultanija mosque in Jajce, built in 1753
  • Husejin-kapetan Gradaščević (Husejnija) mosque in Gradačac, built in 1824
  • Azizija mosque in Brezovo Polje, built in 1862
  • Derviš-pasha (Poturmahala) mosque in Travnik, built around 1863
  • Ali-pasha Rizvanbegović mosque at Buna, built 1848-49
  • Varoš mosque in Travnik, dating from the 16th century. (In the great fire of  3 September 1903, the Varoš mosque was burned down. During the reconstruction of the mosque, in 1906, a dome was built, though the original building was not domed)
  • Ali-bey mosque in Žepče (unknown year of construction)

(3) A total of three Sarajevo waqfiyyahs were preserved older than Čekrekčija’s, and in transcript, and these are: Isabey’s, written in 1462 (seal no. 77 p. 51), Ajaspasha’s from 1477 (seal 57, p. 78) and Mustafabey Skenderpašić’s from 1517 (seal 79, p. 155). This last endowment was written in Tripolis, and the original is found at the Central Waquf Administration (Kreševljaković, Hamdija: The mosque and endowment of Muslihuddin Čekrekčija, Bulletin of the Islamic Religious Community ofthe Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Year 6 (1938), no. 1, pp.17-38, Sarajevo).

(4) This shows that the benefactor had the honorary forename of "Muslihudin". It is a custom with Arabic writers at times to add the words of “milleti ve" [Ar. millat-i wa] to forenames ending in “din” (for instance, Džemaludin, Fahrudin) between the first and second part of the forename, so instead of Muslihudin they say “Muslihul-milleti ved-din”, such as stated here (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 17-38).

(5) Contract of sale (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 17-38).

(6) Thus in the original, but it should surely have been "Kečedži" (Kreševljaković: 1938, p. 17-38).

(7) To the south (Kreševljaković: 1938, p. 17-38).

(8) The name of Jatiživ is so far completely unknown. It is not in the Academic Dictionary, nor is it mentioned in any known document, and in this endowment it was vocalized, so there is no possibility of misreading it (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 17-38).

(9) Juz: thirtieth part of the Qur’an

(10) “….bridges were built mainly by senior state officials, or the state in the name of the Sultan himself. In addition to the said statesmen, it was recorded in various ways that bridges in Bosnia and Herzegovina were built or reconstructed by the following viziers, commissioners and statesmen: Skender-bey Mihajlović, Sofi Mehmed-pasha, Musa-pasha, Kabakulak Ibrahimpasha, Mustafa-pasha, Davud-pasha, Dagistanli Ali-pasha, Daniel-pasha, Ćejvan-Kethoda, Nesuh-aga Vučjaković, Ahmed-pasha Sokolović(?), Mustafa-bey, Hasan-bey Defterdar, Čoban Hasan Vojvoda, Mehmed-kapetan Gradaščević and others. Certain citizens, wealth permitting, also feature as founders or reconstructors. These are most often merchants or rich master craftsmen, such as Muslihudin Čekrekčija, Huseinaga Haračić, Hajji Bešlija, Sarač Husein, Abdulah-aga Briga, Hajji Mehmed Grbo, a Jew (name unknown) who rebuilt the Čirišhana-bridge in Sarajevo, and also some poets, such as Šejh Kaimija, or benefactors asto whose social position nothing can be deduced, such as Hajji Bali, Kara Šudža, Hajji Hasan, Alija Hafizadić, Muhamed who built the Čaršija bridge in Travnik, etc …” (Džemal Čelić, Mehmed Mujezinović: Old Bridges in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1998, p. 28)

(11) This means that when this vakufnama was written, judge Ubejdulah son of Ahmed was in Sarajevo, and at the end of August 1541 the same office was performed by Abdulah son of Alija, grandson of Muejjed, whereas it is not known when Ez-Zebdemi was the judge. All three were foreign nationals. It is interesting to note that all three of them call Sarajevo the “place of combatants” (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 17-38).

(12) (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 17-38).

(13) Suljaga Zečević recounted that during prayer Muslihudin Čekrekčija hid in an ardija [a small back room], and people wondered greatly about this. When once one of his neighbours followed him to this room, Čekrekčija took him by the arm and told him to close his eyes, and when he did so, he told him to reopen his eyes. And when he did this, the two of them found themselves in Mekka at the Beitullah [lit. House of God] where they were performing the noon prayer. After this, in the same manner, they again found themselves in the small rear room. (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp.17-38).

The mihrab of this mosque is said to face directly towards the qibla. The story goes thus: While the mosque was being built, the builder explained to Čekrekčija that the qibla was in some other direction, and not the one he was indicating, but he did not let himself be persuaded. Since they could not agree, Čekrekčija suddenly said: "Look, there is Beitullah! “ and only then did the builder agree to build the mihrab facing in the direction indicated by Čekrekčija (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 17-38).

Several stories about Čekrekčija were recorded by Muhamed Hajjijahić in his "Sarajevo Mosques in Folk Tales”.  Anthology for the Life and Customs of the South Slavs, Volume XXX, Part 1, pp. 229-236.

(14) The gravestones are finely cut. They are up to two metres high. The nišan headstone is of particularly fine workmanship. The santrač (surround) is already in poor condition, so it is high time this this grave were properly made good (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp.17-38).

(15) Mehmed Mujezinović wrote about this graveyard: “The graveyard is situated on Titova Street and belonged to hajji-Idris’s Mahala (Žabljak). The graveyard previously occupied a larger area, but when it was converted into a park (the Great Park opposite the Executive Council Building), its size was reduced and a number of tombstones disappeared. Judging by those ten or so pairs of old nišan  tombstones known as šehitski [martyr’s tombstones] it may be deduced that the graveyard dates from the early 16th century, if not earlier. The very fact that the graveyard contains the grave of Čekrekčija, who built the mosque below Kovači in Baščaršija in 1526, and who decreed that his garden become a graveyard, which was later called Čekrekčinica, indicates that the graveyard is old. The first dated nišan in Čekrekčinica dates from 1555, and the most recent from 1878. Bašeskija recorded that in 1181 (1767/68) Dugi Jusuf-baša died in the vicinity of Čekrekčija’s graveyard (Mujezinović, Mehmed: Islamic Epigraphics of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Volume I – Sarajevo, Sarajevo, 1988, pp. 177-182) .

(16) (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 31-34)

(17) The same happened to the mahala of the Firuzbey’s Medresa, and when the merchant Hubjaraga built his mosque in this mahala  in 1557/8, the mahala was also called Hubjaraga’s, although even nowadays people call this quarter medreseta (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp.17-38).

(18) If this Hajji Alija terzija is identical with Hajji Alija terzibaša, founder of the masjid in Balibegovica, then this could not be Gazi Husrevbey’s terzibaša, who went to Dubrovnik in 1521 and 1525 to purchase textiles, as suggested by Dr. Ćiro Truhelka (Jnl of the National Museum, 1912, p. 109). – One Sinan čelebija Terzibašić, no doubt the son or grandson of Hajji Alija terzibaša, endowed several shops in Ćurčiluk. His waqf was still in existence in the second half of the 18th century, and its mutawalli was one Hasan, as we learn from the original temesuks [Ar. tamassuk, IOU] issued in 1176, 1188 and 1190. (Archives by M. E. Kadić of the Gazi Husrevbey Library, nos. 791, 795 and 797). (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp.17-38).

(19) It is more likely that this property of Turna-dede’s was on the right hand side of present-day Kovači  street, because there is more room there.

(20) This passage in the endowment was translated as “source", but it can also mean “public fountain”.

(21) This piece of information is very important, because evidence of the existence of the shops built next to the mosque is related to a certain period. Although this was not mentioned in the work, the year 1851 most probably pertains to the population census year (note by E. Softić).

(22) Bašeskija says of the benefactor Hajjibektašević that he died in 1184 AH (= 1770/71) and that he endowed twelve purses of property for Čekrekčija’s mosque and other charities. From another source we learn that the property of this benefactor amounted to 5,779,893 akčas, of which he endowed one third, that is 1,926.631 akčas, for charities (Bašeskija Mula Mustafa: Chronicle, Sarajevo, 1968,  p. 148. and sidžil 11, pp. 61-63) .

(23) (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 35-36).

(24) Before 1557, Hajji Oruč, a resident of the Čekrekčija mahala, died, and left 3,600 akčas as a waqf, so that one juz might be recited for his sake daily in the Čekrekčija mosque. In late 1556 the mutawalli of this waqf, Velija, son of Husain, died, and imam Muhjudin halifa filed a suit against the executor of the will of this mutawalli, one Muslihuddin, demanding that the amount of 3.650 akčas be allocated from Velija’s property as waqf money. He proved to the witnesses that this was so and that the performance of this office fell on himself as the imam of the Čekrekčija mosque, because this was so stipulated by Hajji Oruč. The court rendered a verdict in favour of imam Mujhudin in mid- Rajab I 964. By the end of the same month, this verdict was annulled and a new one was pronounced, under the terms of which the recitation of juz belonged to Gazija, son of  Behram (Chronicles by M. E. Kadić, Volume I, p. 309).

(25) This petition was sent to the Bosnian vezir by the Sarajevo judge Mehmed against the objection of the imam of the Čekrekčija mosque, Omer efendi, the muezzin of the same mosque Mula Ahmed,  the sibjanmualim [primary school teacher] Ahmed ef., and many people from the town with a request that two residents of the Čekrekčija mahala, Marija and Sara, be evicted on account of bad behaviour (Archives by M. E. Kadić, no. 918).

(26) R Muderizović: The Sarajevo Necrologue of Mula Mustafa Bašeskij. Jnl of the National Museum, 1919, p. 52

(27) World of Islam, no. 82 dated 24 April 1934.

(28) H. Kreševljaković: Merhum H. H. Mustafa ef. Čadordžija - Novi Behar, Year VII, p. 5.

(29) The term “today” pertains to the period of around 1938, when H. Kreševljaković was writing his work (note by E. Softić). 

(30) (Kreševljaković: 1938, pp. 36-38).

(31) According to the measurements indicated on the ground plan of the present condition of the mosque (Main Design for the Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reconstruction of the Čekrekči-Muslihudin Mosque in Sarajevo, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage Sarajevo, Sarajevo, July 1999)

(32) (an extension to the mosque, built before 1851).

(33) The Divan Kjatib Hajdar ef. mosque (White Mosque) in Vratnik also has two-storey sofas.

(34) “Judging by the compressed dome, the builder of this mosque graduated from the school of the famous Turkish architect Hajrudin, teacher of mimar Sinan (1490-1588), the top Turkish builder of all times. Skenderija too was built by an architect from the same school, because there too the dome was compressed, whereas all the other mosques were built by Sinan’s pupils” (Kreševljaković: 1938, p. 20).

(35) Whereas in the case of all the other domed mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina the minaret is built as an annex to the mosque, in the case of the Čekrekčija mosque it is integrated within the mosque building.

(36) For instance, the Mišćina mosque in Sarajevo (a mosque with a hipped roof and stone minaret) has a minaret of similar composition (Kreševljaković: 1938, p. 20).

(37) before the works of structural rehabilitation and the reconstruction and restoration of the building began in 1999, and were completed in late 2000, the area of the left hand-side sofa on the ground floor was used for abdest

(38) the flights of the staircase are set at a right angle to each other ( L-shaped)

(39) Only the Tabacki masjid  in Sarajevo still has iron doors.

(40) The level of the mahfil , which is approx. 50-60 cm  lower than the first floor level

(41) The height of walls measured from the mosque floor to the base of the dome

(42) Trompes (squinches) are rounded vaulted niches above the angles of the square cubus (Werner Mueller, Gunther Vogel: The Atlas of Architecture, Volume 1, Zagreb, 2000, pp. 48-49)

(43) The reference level of the ground floor of the mosque is +0.07 meters (Main Design for the  Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reconstruction of the Čekrekči-Muslihudin Mosque in Sarajevo, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, July 1999)

(44) from the above Design

(45) this was confirmed during research works undertaken in 1997-2000

(46) exact and detailed dimensions of all the windows are given in the Main Design for the Rehabilitation, Restoration and Reconstruction of the Čekrekči-Muslihudin Mosque in Sarajevo

(47) from the study by Esad Vesković, Esad Ćesović and Mirna Jamaković: Research painting and conservational works on the parts of interior of Muslihudin-Čekrekčija’s Mosque in Sarajevo, Cantonal Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Sarajevo, Sarajevo, December 1977

(48) According to the report by the experts from the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, Prof. Dr. Muhamed Zlatar and Muhamed Madžarević MA, who drew up the project for the structural rehabilitation and consolidation of the building, the structural rehabilitation of the dome entailed reestablishing the quality of the dome structure, which entailed a slight increase in the dimensions and weight, all of which was in compliance with the design idea and criteria for the selection of materials as previously indicated.

The analysis of the stresses in the structure of the dome suggested a condition of pressure with flexural stress caused by a shift of the compression line outside the core of the section, which gave rise to  drag stresses over much of the surface of the extrados.

A very lightweight carbon fibre grid of the appropriate geometry on the extrados itself produced a high degree of resistance to pressure (approximately 3 500 Mpa), as a result of the grid fulfilling the following functions:

  • taking drag stresses that the walls are unable to accept
  • creating a continuously distributed connection between all the elements of the vault, which is in a condition to achieve homogeneity in the entire dome structure
  • establishing the spatial performance of the entire dome.

Analyses of the drag stresses in the zone around the minaret established that the geometrical asymmetry of the dome increases the drag stresses, and at this point the consolidation was executed with particular care.

The reinforcement with carbon fibre created a new load-bearing section which is also able to transfer the altered stress condition of the pressure in the intrados, caused by the phenomenon of pressure with sagging due to damage. This reinforcement causes a shift in the neutral axis towards the extrados with carbon fibre, as well as an increase of the pressure zone of the section and a reduction of compressive stresses, all in accordance with the external pressure. This effect is proportionate to the value of the module of carbon elasticity (235,000 or 400,000 MPa) from the walls. The wall elasticity module varies and is assessed on site. This proportion is extremely high and has a positive effect on the reduction of compression stresses.

Intervention only on the extrados of the dome should not give rise to concern. In essence, the collapse mechanism comes about through a gradual reduction of hyperstatics, with the formation of joints until a configuration of a structurally determined system of an arch with three articulations is formed, and through to an unstable system. In a state of collapse, these articulations are formed by means of cracks alternating on the intrados and extrados. In other words, the rotation points of some solid elements of the vault alternate on the edges of the sections of extrados and the intradoses, preventing the formation of families of articulations exclusively on the extrados or intrados. Based on this thinking, the conclusion is that intervention on both surfaces of the dome is superfluous.

Naturally, it was first necessary to establish the proper functioning of the system in the vault pressure zone, by injection filling of all cracks with appropriate mortars.

(49) The present-day level of the floor on the outer sofas and ancillary premises is not original, being higher than the window reveals by almost their entire height. Given that on all mosques, or at least the majority of them, the window reveals are completely visible, the designer decided to lower the existing level of the sofa floor by approximately 30 cm. This lowering also leads to lowering the floor in the mosque vestibule, which again requires two stone steps to be introduced both at the entrance to the vestibule and at the entry to the interior prayer space itself.



Baščaršija, part around the Čekrekčija mosqueSebilj and Čekrekčija mosqueČekrekčija mosqueČekrekči mosque, before restauration
Plan and cross-sectionInterior of the mosque - mahvilMahvil before restaurationMimber
Mimber before restaurationMihrabSquinchDome


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