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Šarena (Sulejmanija) 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 25 to 31 January 2005 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The architectural ensemble of the Šarena (Sulejmanija) mosque in Travnik is hereby designated as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of Šarena (Sulejmanija) mosque with šadrvan, drinking fountain and shops, and movable heritage consisting of two manuscripts of the Qur’an.

The National Monument stands on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 903 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. no. 5/1 and 5/390 (old survey), land registry entry no. 1589, cadastral municipality Travnik, property of the Islamic Religious Community in Travnik, Municipality Travnik, the 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 on the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated:

  • all works are prohibited other than conservation and restoration works, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
  • a project for the maintenance of the National Monument shall be drawn up.

A protective strip shall consist of the area surrounded by the plots adjoining the site defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision.  In this strip the following protection measures shall apply:

  • all new construction and works of any kind that could have the effect of altering the site are prohibited on the adjacent plots,
  • all construction on protected green areas is prohibited.

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 thereof.

 

VI

 

The removal of the movable heritage items referred to in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision (hereinafter: the movable heritage) from Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited.

By way of exception to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Clause, the temporary removal from Bosnia and Herzegovina of the movable heritage for the purposes of display or conservation shall be permitted if it is established that conservation works cannot be carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Permission under the terms of the the preceding paragraph shall be issued by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, if it is determined beyond doubt that it will not jeopardize the movable heritage in any way. 

In granting permission for the temporary removal of the movable heritage from Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Commission shall stipulate all the conditions under which the removal may take place, the date by which the items shall be returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the responsibility of individual authorities and institutions for ensuring that these conditions are met, and shall notify the Government of the Federation, the relevant security service, the customs authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the general public accordingly.

 

VII

 

The Government of the Federation, the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federation 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 VI of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VIII

 

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) 

 

IX

 

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.

 

X

 

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. 634.

 

XI

 

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 Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

 

No. 07/1-2-295/04-4

27 January 2005

Sarajevo

 

Chair of the Commission

Amra Hadžimuhamedović

 

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 Šarena mosque in Travnik to the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina, numbered as 634.

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:

  • Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (copy of cadastral plan and copy of land register entry)
  • Details of legal protection of the property to date
  • 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.
  • 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

Travnik is located on the banks of the river Lašva, between Mts. Vlašić and Vilenica. The architectural ensemble of the Šarena (Sulejmanija) mosque in Travnik is located in the centre of Donja čaršija (the Lower market place) in Travnik. The buildings are located on cadastral plot no. 903, cadastral municipality of Travnik, the property of the Islamic Religious Community in Travnik.

Historical information

The development of Travnik as an urban settlement is associated with the period of Turkish administration in Bosnia. The origin of the town is the mediaeval fort on an elevation and the outskirts below, the varoš (town). There is no reference to the mediaeval fort of Travnik in historical documents, but the shape of the upper fortress where the castle palace was located, as well as the toponym “Varoš” below the fort, suggest that there was a fort and its outskirts in the mediaeval period (Kovačević-Kojić, 1978, pages 138, 264).

The Lašva nahija of the Ottoman period corresponds to the eponymous župa (county) of Lašva in the valley of the river also with the same name. Lašva was known as a county from 1244 to 1470, from which time it became known as the Lašva nahija, remaining part of the kadiluk and vilayet of which Travnik was the centre until the 19th century. The earliest reference to Travnik dates from 1463 when, while preparing to attack the town of Jajce, Sultan Mehmed II Fatih, the Conqueror, stayed there for a short time. The fort in Travnik, however, had been founded at least by the first half of the 15th century.  In 1519 Travnik was the residence of a duke (Mujezinović, 1998, page 325).

Travnik occupies a prominent place among Bosnia’s towns in the Turkish administrative division of the country, as evidenced by the fact that the town was the centre of a kadiluk (area under the jurisdiction of a qadi or Islamic judge) for a lengthy period of time (presumably since before 1557), while from 1699 to 1850, with two short breaks, it was the centre of the Bosnian pashaluk (area under the jurisdiction of a pasha)  (Simić, 1989, page 122).

In 1699 the vizier’s throne was moved from Sarajevo to Travnik, after the disastrous fire of 1697 caused by the attack on the city by Eugene of Savoy, when the vizier’s residency in Sarajevo was burned down. Bosnia’s governors resided in Travnik until 19 June 1850, after which date Sarajevo again became the centre of the Bosnian pashaluk.

The period from 1699 to 1850 was a very troubled time. It was a time when central Turkish authority became ever weaker and impotent to quell the resistance of feudals in the Turkish Empire, including Bosnia, as the frequent changes of vizier vividly illustrates. Over the period of 134 years during which Travnik was the centre of the pashaluk, there were ninety changes to the post of vizier.

The relocation of the vizier’s throne had a favourable impact on the development of what was until then an insignificant kasaba (small provincial town), which also left its mark on the material culture of Travnik. The town grew, new mahalas (residential quarters of the town) were built, the inflow of inhabitants increased, and the new Gornja čaršija (Upper market place) was founded. Trade and the economy developed, and numerous public edifices and private properties were built.

As far as is known, sixteen mosques were built in Travnik, the oldest of them the one in the fort that was built in the name of Sultan Mehmed el-Fatih. The Sulejmanija and Hajji Ali-beg mosque are among the town’s more valuable architectural monuments; there are two clock towers and other edifices (Mujezinović, 1998, page 325).

The history of the Šarena mosque is associated with the urban development of the town and the names of major legators, two of whom bore the title of vizier.  In the view of H. Kreševljaković, four of the sixteen mosques built in Travnik between the early 16th century and 1878 stand out in particular: the Jeni mosque, dating from 1549, the oldest mosque in Travnik; the Šarena mosque (built in 1815/16); the Derviš-pasha Teskeredžic mosque in Potur mahala (built in 1862); and the Hajji Ali-beg mosque in Gornja čaršija (built in 1862 on the site of the demolished Kukavica mosque).

One Gazi-aga built a mosque on the site of the Šarena mosque at the end of the 16th century, as a result of which it was known as the Gazi-aga mosque until 1757. No description of this mosque has survived. This first mosque also had a harem, which became more and more cramped over the years alongside the mosque. Traces of the harem and its nišan tombstones were found when new buildings were erected in Žitarnica, anad close to the drinking fountain to the east. To this day there is one behind the fountain which has been shown to have belonged to the builder of the Gazi-aga mosque. Its position alongside the minaret, the archaic form of the turban with shallow creases and a thick neck, the rosette decorating the shaft of the nišan, and the very fact that it has survived though the rest of the harem has disappeared, suggest that the nišan tombstone concealed by the fountain can be attributed to the builder of the mosque (Sujoldžic, 1998, page 30).

That same year, 1757, the Bosnian vali Sopa Salan Ćamil-Ahmed pasha restored the Gazi-aga mosque from the foundations up, building a bezistan (covered market) beneath it with twenty-seven shops; from then on it became known as the Ćamilija mosque. All that can be learned from Ahmed pasha’s vakufnama (deed of perpetual endowment) of the Ćamilija mosque, dating from 1757, is that the Gazi-aga mosque was in a state of ruins at that time, and that it was rebuilt somewhat prior to 3 July 1757 by the benefactor, Ahmed pasha. The vakufnama provides the information that the mosque was rebuilt from the foundations, apart from the stone minaret, and that the waterpipes also underwent major repairs at the same time. A drinking fountain with four spouts was installed beside the mosque, fed with water from the existing waterpipes.

Among the other details provided by the vakufnama is a description of the new building, which says that it stood on short stone piers, and that below the mosque was a bezistan with two entrances and ten indoor shops, together with seventeen around the bezistan, behind the arcades of the mosque. This description perfectly matches the present condition of the building, making it likely that this part of the structure survived the fire that swept through Donja čaršija in 1815, and burned down the mosque (Simić, 1989, page 123).

After the 1815 fire, the mosque was thoroughly renovated by the Bosnian vali Skopljak Sulejman-pasha, for whom the mosque has since been known as the Sulejmanija. This vizier resided in Travnik from 27 October 1815 until 23 January 1818. In addition to renovating this mosque, he built a turbe (mausoleum) above the tombstone of the Bosnian vizier Mustafa-pasha Jenišeherlija in the courtyard of the Kukavica medresa (Muslim religious high school) in Gornja čaršija, and restored the clock tower close to the Hajji Ali-beg mosque. He endowed a rich vizier’s vakuf (perpetual endowment) for the maintenance of these properties, and gifted the high Turkish decoration he had received for military service to the mosque itself to keep (Sujoldžić, 1998, page 35).

There is an inscription recording this restoration, dating from 1815/1816. The stone plaque, measuring 100 x 50 cm, bearing the inscription, is mounted above the main entrance to the mosque.  The chronogram in verse is incised in fourteen elliptical fields, and is decorated along the long sides and through the centre by carved florets. The script is a small, handsome nasta’liq (Mujezinović, 1998, page 414).

“A vizier appeared on the horizon of the true dawn

Whose love spread through this world and gleamed with an invisible glow.

By good fortune hhe visited this town and settled here,

And resolved in his heart to rebuild the dilapidated Ćamilija mosque.

He gave a new sheen to its original form,

This great benefactor like Asaf, of generous heart,

Built the mosque from foundations to top in new shape.

And thus he adorned the town market and shed light on it.

See this fine buildings, its lights and its lamps,

Resembling the one invisible seal that bestows brilliance.

As long as sermons are held there and the muezzin calls to prayer,

May the Almighty Creator reward the benefactor.

Rašid, prostrate you (pray) and tell the mosque the full chronogram:

This is the place where believers fall on their knees and the valuable

monument of Sulejman vizier.

Year 1231.”

The chronogram gives the year of rebuilding in figures and also in abjad in the final verse. We have no detailed information on the author of the inscription, Rešid (Mujezinović, 1998, page 415).

Little is known about events concerning the Šarena mosque since 1815. Some interventions to the property can be surmised indirectly from the building itself and some surviving photographs. An analysis of photographs of the mosque taken between the two World Wars suggests painted decoration of the façade entirely different from the present-day decorations, and the existence of a row of shops to the north-east of the façade, from the fountain to the corner of the building. Photographs of the interior dating from the same period reveal interior latticework on the mihrab wall, different in texture from the present lattice, on the façade of the building.  Part of Donja čaršija can also be seen, forming the natural and logical townscape surrounding the building. This part now looks entirely different.

Historical information suggests that during the bombing of Travnik in World War II, the west corner of the building was destroyed, but had already been repaired by 1945 (Simić, 1989, page 126).

A number of coats of paint on the woodwork, the interior walls and the façades of the mosque, discovered during research works on the building, and the use of tiles, as at present, rather than shingles as the roof cladding, indicate interventions to the mosque. No written documentation about these has been found. There is at present no information about other interventions to the building during its earlier history.

 

2. Description of the property

The architectural ensemble consists of the Šarena (Sulejmanija) mosque with the bezistant, shops, šadrvan, drinking fountain and harem. The Šarena mosque is the largest and, given that it is the čaršija mosque, the most important mosque in Travnik. It is located in the centre of Donja čaršija.

ŠARENA(1) (SULEJMANIJA) MOSQUE

Mosques with hipped roofs and stone minarets can be classifed according to their ground plan into two basic types: single-space mosques, the prevalent type, and those with pillars. About ten mosques of the second type, dating from the final centuries of Ottoman rule, feature in Bosnia. This type of mosque represents a new treatment in ground plan, with pillars supporting the ceiling and a mahfil along the front and two side walls (Bećirbegović, 1999, page 51). Architecturally, the most important mosque of this type is the Sulejmanija or Šarena mosque in Travnik.

The Sulejmanija mosque differs from the others in its structural treatment, with the prayer space above a bezistan. In terms of both date of origin and conceptual treatment, there is a clear connection between the Sulejmanija and the Ali-pasha Rizvanbegović (Podgradska) mosque in Stolac. The latter, too, had shops below the entire mosque at ground-floor level, with the religious space on the first floor and extending over two storeys. The roof is also hipped. Unlike the Šarena mosque in Travnik, the Podgradska mosque is relatively small (interior measurements of the ground plan are 8.60 x 5.20 m), and the façades are neither plastered nor painted, leaving the stone exposed.  Both the mosque in Stolac and the Šarena mosque in Travnik were built on the site of a dilapidated old mosque in 1732/33, and 1812 is referred to as the year of construction (Simić, 1989, page 124).

The present-day Šarena mosque was built in 1815 on the foundations of a much older mosque.  Its original appearance has largely been preserved. The only alteration to the architecture is the small balcony added to the central window of the second zone on the right hand side of the main façade. This balcony was used by the muezzin to convey the words of the imam to people praying outside the mosque. The murals have been repainted on a number of occasions, most recently in 1958. On several occasions between 1959n and 1990 they have been completely renovated during conservation works. The murals on the outside of the building have thus been restored to their original appearance. However, since the property is right in the centre of town, between two very busy roads, the surrounding area has been much reduced in size and altered in appearance.

The ground plan of the mosque is a slightly elongated rectangle with an extension to the north-east, beside the minaret, in the form of an added portico at the end left-hand corner. It consists of three storeys. The ground floor beneath the entire mosque consists of a stone bezistan, which formerly contained ten shops, now removed. The bezistan is divided by two rows each of six massive wooden pillars on each side forming two bays, formerly divided into shops, and a central cobbled passageway or inner street. The bezistan now forms a single sales area.

The ground floor of the mosque measures 21.88 x 16 m on the outside. The interior dimensions of bezistan are 12.30 x 8.20 m. Outside the bezistan are two rows of shops facing the exterior portico, with a row of 19 low, stubby stone pillars and shallow arches. There are two types of pillar: the more solid, composed of very prominent bases and capitals with round columns, eight in all, and eleven smaller single-sectioned square pillars with chamfered corners, making them almost octagonal in cross-section. The pillars are linked by segmental arches with steel ties. The outer line of the arches is set back from the face of the wall, further emphasizing the plasticity of the ground floor of the building. The areas between the arches and above the capitals themselves have stone decoration in the form of protruding 12-lobed rosettes. There is a half-round projecting string course above the upper line of the arches along three façades of the building (south-west, south-east and north-east), also forming a visual differentiation between the ground floor and the first floor of the building (the secular and the religious components).

The main double entrance stairway of tufa with a wooden door and stair-railings on both sides leads onto a landing outside the main portal, where there used to be a wooden bench. The main portal leads into an enclosed entrance area measuring 14.5 x 16.5 m with a height of 6 m. The mosque has two entrances, the main entrance through a large arched door, and a side entrance to the right of this, a design which is identical to that of the Hajji Ali-beg mosque, built at the same time and perhaps by the same craftsmen.

The ground plan of the Šarena mosque is a not entirely regular rectangle with exterior dimensions of approx. 21.76 x 16.01 (the edges of the building are at a slight slant). The interior measurements of the main space of the religious section of the mosque are approx. 16.93 x 43 x 14.47 m. The massive outer stone walls are 70 to 80 cm thick. The vestibule is approx. 3 m wide. Height-wise, the building is articulated into the ground-floor section, with a height of approx. 2.30 to 2.80 m; and the religious section with a height of 5.8m, which has at mid height a surrounding gallery approx. 2.5 m wide on the sides. The ground floor and first floor ceiling joists are wooden, with larger and smaller beams and pugging, giving an overall thickness of approx. 60 cm including the floor. This thick, heavy floor/ceiling structure is supported on the columns and pillars of the bezistan set on massive stone bearings approx. 3.30 m apart. The pillars support the main beams via corbels, and the main beams in turn supported the smaller joists on which the pugging and secondary joists of the floor were laid.

The roof is hipped, with the longer sides trapezoid and the shorter triangular; the pitch of the roof panes is approx. 300. The roof cladding now consists of eternit asbestos cement, which has replaced the original shingles and the later roof tiles.

            The minaret stands to the left of the centre of the former čaršija, probably to ensure that the muezzin’s voice be heard as far and wide as possible. The minaret is twelve-sided, tall and slender, and is of stone, entirely undecorated. There are some indications that the minaret is the only surviving part of the original Gazi-aga mosque: the fact that the entrance to the minaret is at ground level, in the present-day bezistan, and that the difference in level of the entrance to the minaret inside the mosque.  This strongly suggest that the original mosque had no bezistan and that it consisted of a ground floor and mahfil which was reached via the minaret, which was then the standard design (Sujoldžić, 1998, page 30).

            The interior is dominated by painted wooden decoration. The spacious interior of the mosque itself has a wooden ceiling with painted wooden boards forming rhomboidal caissons. There is a specially decorated sofraluk in the centre of the ceiling.  Part of the fairly wide ceiling is supported by a row of wooden pillars surrounding the maksura (a partitioned-off, slightly raised area in the mosque where officials usually stood during formal religious ceremonies) along the side walls; these pillars also support the mahfil (gallery in the mosque where women usually pray) on the upper storey. The mahfil, which runs along three walls, is supported by 14 wooden pillars that extend up through the topmost storey and support the ceiling. The ground-floor pillars are octagonal in cross-section and those of the first floor are round in section. The moulded wooden corbels above the pillars in the mosque are a major decorative feature. The structural combination of pillar, corbel and beam is typical of the construction of that time, and the way the corbels are moulded in the Šarena mosque can be found in many buildings, of both Christian and Islamic architecture, in this part of the world (Simić, 1989, page 125). Although the pillars below the mahfil are also joined by a wooden railing, this has not spoiled the unity of the interior space, since a large central area of 9 x 13 m is formed in front of the mihrab. The wooden pillars have cuboid bases and capitals and prominent, richly moulded and painted corbels. A staircase leads from this area to the mahfil, which runs along not only the rear but also both side walls as far as the front of the mosque.

            The mihrab is of stone, of the usual shape, with a semicircular niche topped by stalactite decoration.

The windows of the lower level, of which there are 28, differ from those of the upper level in shape and in the mušebak latticework that closes them from the wall face. The number of windows is the same on both levels. The lower-level windows are rectangular and flat-topped, with grilles, and surrounded by a painted frame and lunette above the window opening. The upper-level windows are arched, with wooden transennas, and the painted work here is between the window openings. Here too it is more elaborate. In both cases it is composed of thin moulded slats dividing the window into smaller sections. They are single-glazed. The windows have wrought-iron fittings and painted, moulded window jambs.

The most important element of the mosque is its façades. The windows are set in two rows, and constitute the accents of the façade, so that the painted decoration is placed in relation to them.  The lower-level windows are rectangular, with grilles.

In the late 1970s, the Šarena mosque was suffering the ravages of time and slowly deteriorating, which was hastened by damage to the roof and the penetration of damp, by the foundations settling over a long period of time, by deformations to the structural system and rot affecting parts of the wooden structure, leading to a stage of complete dilapidation.  In addition to the state of dilapidation of most of the architectural elements of both the interior and the exterior, the deterioration of the building was also reflected in the deformation or warping of the building as a whole, as could be seen with the naked eye inside the building. The uneven lines of the interior string courses both on the gallery and on the cornice at the juncture of the walls and ceiling were plain to see. The floors were uneven, as could be observed when walking in the building.

            As a result of all this, research, design and contractual works were carried out between 1982 and 1987 to repair, make good and revitalize the mosque. Research works on the painted layers of all the woodwork and wall surfaces of the interior and exterior were carried out, and the interior paintwork was restored (Simić, 1989, page 121).

Simić Alma provided a detailed description of the restoration works on the Šarena mosque in her article “The Šarena mosque in Travnik,” published in Naše starine (Our Antiquities) XVIII-XIX. The following is an extract from this paper, with a detailed account of the works carried out:

“As a result of this damage to the ground floor, the conversion works on the bezistan consisted of demolishing the partition walls, a later addition, and laying floors with the necessary hydro and thermal insulation. The rotten parts of the ceiling joists of the ground floor were replaced with new timbers, and the entire ceiling structure was protected. At the same time thermal insulation and a new floor were laid. Research into the cause of damp and damp proofing were not carried out. The walls were simply lined on both sides with hydroinsulation (insulating felt) and then faced with MDF board, in line with the reconstruction project by N. Alagić and M. Ibrišimović, Travnik, 1980. This treatment was not appropriate to the basic requirements of the physics of the building, nor to basic conservation postulates concerning the refurbishment of the interior, and the protection and presentation of the original partsof the property. The decayed roof structure was also replaced, but eternit was retained as the roof cladding instead of the original shingles – according to a project by F. Mulabegović, Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of BiH, 1979. The walls were built up around the edges, and a reinforced concrete ring beam was installed at roof-cornice height; this was wider than the one provided for by the design, giving rise to the specific problem of hammering off the excess. The ceiling (with roof) of the prayer area of the mosque was somewhat levelled as a result, but repair components were built in consisting of a temporary shims made of facing boards approx. 5 to 25 cm thick (which rermained fully visible and could not, even if replaced by new, better quality timber, be incorporated into interior forms representing a combined structural and decorative solution for the interior). (Simić, 1989, page 127).

In early 1982, experts from the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of BiH carried out further works: drafting continued of the research and project documentation and protection works on the Šarena mosque, along with the elimination of all the defects of the previous stage.

Although parts of the structural system had been physically reconstructed during the previous works, they still remained in a state of disruption. The existence of shims completely disrupted the original structural system (pillar, corbel, load-bearing beam) and the aesthetics of the space. In order to ascertain the existing condition, a geodetic survey of the heights inside the religious part of the building was conducted to determine the height differences at relevant points of the interior. The measurements revealed that the height differences at individual points of comparison were as much as 25 cm in places. The extreme difference at floor height of the gallery was 19 cm, and the maximum difference on the ceiling, which had previously been levelled, was 7 cm. Differences in level of the floor of the gallery and that of the mosque were observed (Simić, 1989, page 129).

In order to level the gallery, the pillars supporting it were raised by introducing oak shims of the necessary thickness, depending on the differences in level at various points, under the supporting beams. This was preceded by the removal of the unsuitable shims between the pillars of the gallery and the roof structure, which had been installed during previous works on the roof. Without disarranging the existing structural system or dismantling any component, the entire structure of the first floor and gallery was raised. The floor was re-laid at the correct level after the secondary substructure had first been levelled (Simić, 1989, page 130).

Almost all the architectural elements in the interior of the mosque are of richly moulded, painted wood. The window frames and lattices, doors, stair-rails and gallery balustrade, ćurs and mimber  were all made in this way. All of these components required certain interventions:

-          Wooden caisson ceiling – šiše – the greater part of the ceiling is affected by rot caused by rainwater leaking through the roof, and it was accordingly reconstructed. The new ceiling was made to the pattern of the old one, using 2 cm thick boards, of different widths in different places, and of slats approx. 2 cm thick determining where the panels of different colours and textures were to be. The new colours were also selected according to the surviving areas of the original colours, which had been painted over in some places with two or three later coats. A chemical analysis of the paint was carried out in the Restoration Centre of SR Slovenia. The analyses revealed that the wooden ceiling had been painted using pure tempera technique, coated with linseed oil, or in oil tempera technique. The technological reconstruction project was based on the original procedure, but using contemporary restoration materials. The ceiling of the central prayer space was made in this way, as was the ceiling surrounding that section, with different textures at two levels, and the ceiling of the entrance area. All this was carried out in line with the original textures and layout of the colours. The same colours were also used later for the restoration of all the interior woodwork (pillars, corbels, railings, ćurs, mimber, doors and so on). The concave edging cornice of the central area was also reconstructed during the course of these works by installing a curved reinforcing mesh as the base under the plaster.  It was painted white slightly tinted with grey, like the background colour of all the wall surfaces inside the mosque (Simić, 1989, page 135).

-          Windows – Most of the windows had begun to leak, so only fine joinery work was carried out on them, with the replacement of only some minor parts, puttying and reinforcing, stripping the top coats of paint and retouching the original colours on the windows and window frames.

-          Demiri and mušepci (grilles and lattices) -  the bars on the lower windows are iron grilles in good condition, and were thus conserved only. The latticework on the upper windows was composed of thin boards joined by rhomboidal slats over them. The boards were cut into alternating rhomboidal or foliate perforations. The latticework was glazed partly in white (40%), with the remainder glazed with painted glass (red, yellow, blue and green). It is a known fact that latticework in mosques, regardless of whether it was made of stone, stucco or wood, was originally glazed with stained glass. Glazing it with ordinary white glass and painting it over was not the original method. Two types of latticework can be differentiated: single-casement, forming the majority, and double-casement on the front and rear of the building. All the windowjambs on the façades of the building were in relatively good condition. The latticework casements had survived only on some of the windows, mainly on the front façade, and of these only three were original. This was established on the basis of the presence of the original coat of paint in some places. All the latticework was reconstructed using sound wood and given the prescribed treatment to protect it from the effects of the elements, aned then painted with light grey water-resistant paint. Samples of thin window glass (2 mm thick) were made in pure primary colours and of lesser intensity, and were installed in the existing proportions.  A surviving frontal photograph of the interior taken between the two world wars indicates the existence of ornamented wooden latticework on the front façade beside the mihrab that differs from the lattice on the facades. This was used in reconstructing the latticework.

-          Gallery railing and stair-rail – The building contained several types of railings, consisting of upper and lower cross-rails with spiral uprights between. Although damaged in places, and with a few of the uprights missing, the railings were in relatively good condition. After replacing the missing uprights, consolidation and re-assembling the railings, the entire central wooden system (railings, pillars, corbels and beams) was painted. The main staircase was lacking its original railings, which were restored, along with the stairs, using sound oak wood.

-          Staircases – part of the main exterior entrance stairway required complete restoration of both the stone and the wooden components as well as reconstruction of missing parts. Traces of paint, although faded, were to be seen on the surviving parts of the timber structure. Three of the interior staircases were partly conserved as found, and partly reconstructed. The wooden horizontal covers of the stairway openings were also reconstructed. (Simić, 1989, page 137).

-          Doors – one of the finest details of the mosque is the entrance portal. The stone door jambs, moulded and decoratively painted, frame a wooden, filigree-carved door with rosettes in hexagonals and squares as the main motif. The door was formerly richly coloured, but only traces of this could be made out. The stylized stone bud to the right of the portal was also missing.  Reconstruction was carried out as a copy of the surviving one on the left.The inside door of the main prayer area had survived, and was of very fine workmanship as regards both carpentry and painted details.  It was in good condition. It was treated in the same way as the other original woodwork in the interior – later coats of paint were stripped off, and the original was retouched.  Where there was a swing door, later removed, there had previously been a heavy leather curtain as draught-excluder.

The only reconstruction carried out on the woodwork was where it was either in very poor condition or had already been previously inadequately restored. Most of the original woodwork had survived almost intact, and required only repair and making good. The authenticity of the original elements was established by analysis of their form and treatment, and by analysis of the original coat of painted decoration on them.  Where it was necessary to reconstruct sizeable sections for which no original example had survived (the staircase to the left of the mosque entrance), reconstruction was effected using new timber treated with neutral, colourless protective coatings only. (Simić, 1989, page 138).

Like all buildings of its time, the Šarena mosque lacked any infrastructure. During the works on the building, it was equipped to the extent to adapt it to modern use. Complete electric wiring and plumbing were installed, storage heaters were installed, a sound system was introduced as was emergency lighting (as required for fire prevention), and other fire prevention measures were also taken. (Simić, 1989, page 139).

Modern floodlighting was installed at the corners of the portico ceiling and arcades. The same principle was applied to the area by the entrance to the building.

Research works on the painted decoration revealed that the existing wall lights had been mounted on the central painted motifs between the windows. These lights were dismantled, and during restoration the use of side lighting was rejected in favour of central lighting. This was preferred by the restorers because such a system of central lighting by means of large hanging chandeliers is to be seen in all monumental mosques. Originally these consisted of metal bars set at a single level and hung with numerous oil glasses. Surviving examples of this type can be seen in Istanbul. There is an illustration of such a chandelier in Bosnia and Herzegovina, dating from the 19th century, in the Aladža mosque in Foča. There is no surviving information on the appearance of the chandeliers in the Šarena mosque. However, the large metal hook that was still in place, set in the bosse of the central rosette of the ceiling, leads to the supposition that there was formerly such a chandelier. As a result, the decision was to introduce a chandelier that would be basically modern in execution, but would be reminiscent in general effect of chandeliers contemporary with the building itself.

The chandelier was made of unpatinated 2 cm brass tubing, and the outer diameter of the chandelier is 3 m. Three smaller chandeliers were made in the same way to light the gallery and entrance area. (Simić, 1989, page 140).

PAINTED DECORATION

The present appearance of the mosque is the result of the 1816 reconstruction, when the wall decorations were painted on the façades and interior. The mosque acquired its name Šarena mosque (polychrome, colourful) after these decorations.

The decorations were executed on fine plaster with an ample quantity of lime and organic matter (flax boon and sawdust), indicating that it was laid specifically as a base to be painted. Using a sharp object, the artisan incised the basic lines into the plaster, probably before it was quite dry. He then executed the decoration in inconsistent fresco technique, since although the plaster was already dry, egg tempera was used as the binder medium. As a result, the pigment did not bond firmly with the base, and as time passed the decorations exposed to the elements suffered so much damage and alteration that by the Austro-Hungarian period they had already been whitewashed over (Kajmakovic, 1959, 260). In his account of the Šarena mosque, however, Enver Sujoldžić writes that the decoration was not damaged during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, citing as evidence a photograph dating from 1906, when Travnik was electrified. The photograph shows a wooden electricity pole, and in the background is the mosque with its decoration in good condition (Sujoldžić, 1998, 38).

During the Austro-Hungarian period, but without doubt after 1906, the decorations on the façades and in the interior were whitewashed over and then overpainted with stencil-type decorations.  The binder medium used for these was milk, but again, the poor consistency resulted in their disappearance with the passage of time. Their appearance became so much altered that the colours and shapes could barely be made out. The original painted layers were showing through in places.

In the 1950s the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina approved an application by the Vakuf Commission to whitewash the façade, on condition that the oldest decoration was not to be destroyed by stripping off. The view was that this would protect the decoration, with the whitewash conserving it and isolating it from the effects of the elements (Kajmaković, 1959, 260).

The decoration on the façades and interior of the mosque were revealed again in 1992.

FAÇADE DECORATION

The façades are decorated on the upper parts of the mosque walls, around the window jambs and lintels of the lower windows and the section of wall containing the upper windows. Certain regular patterns can be identified on the painted façades:

-          The first zone of the façade that is painted includes the frames of the lower row of windows and the arched window lintels. The tops of the arched window lintel are with alternating lily(2) and tulip flowers. The inside of the painted arched area is filled with tripartite, bulbous shape composed of curved leaves, the inside of which is filled in with tendrils, florets and leaflets. A half-lily is painted at the ends of the arches and in the extension of the window frames. The colours of the window frames and arches of the window lintels alternate in a regular pattern of blue, green….

-          The second zone begins with the painting on the façade of the upper row of windows. The painted area begins with a horizontal line from which motifs extend upwards to the roof. Each window frame is surrounded by alternating blue or red lines forming on an inner panel with a twining motif and stylised flowers and buds. Green and red panels alternate in a regular pattern. On the horizontal line (with the exception of the decoration on the north-west wall of the mosque) stand vessels, usually vases, but in places a ewer (ibrik: a narrow-necked copper ewer with cover), from which grow cypress trees, grapevines or apple trees, alternating from one panel to the next. The apple trees bear reddish fruits, the grapevines, grapes, and the cypresses, cones. Next to the vase or ewer there is usually a smaller branch coiled around the main tree and hung with bell-shaped blue or red florets. To the right and left of the central tree, by the edges of the windows, are small bunches of flowers – three branchlets with leaves, tipped with florets of various colours.  These include tulips, bluebells and dandelions, but most are painted free-style, with the shape and colours chosen arbitrarily, so that the type of flower cannot always be identified.

-          The third painted zone of the façade consists of a horizontal line from which red and green lily flowers extend towards the mosque windows. This gives the decoration on the façade a closed form.

Various exceptions add liveliness to the motifs that alternate in a regular pattern. One such features on the south-east wall of the mosque – a large grapevine. The stock emerges from an ibrik formingn two branches, one blue and one brown. These branches intertwine, but also branch out in a free, lively rhythm on all sides, filling the entire space with their tendrils, leaves and fruits. Below this painted zone is a blank space where a dovecote used to hang.  Ibriks with their lids open feature on the corners of the same wall. The monotony of alternating motifs is also broken by the drawings on the north-east wall of the extension to the mosque. This features two vases and two trays on which the artist has placed watermelons with a slice cut out and a knife stuck into them. There is a similar scene with cherries on the opposite (south-west) wall of the mosque. On the south-west and north-east walls, at the corner to the south-east, are two inscriptions: the south-west reads “La illah illa’llah”, and the north-east “Ma sha’llah”. Variations in the decoration can also be seen on the north-west wall, where the tree-trunks extend somewhat further below the lower edge of the windows than is usual on the other façades. This was probably intended to accentuate the entrance to the mosque.

The amounts of different colours used by the artisan can be categorized in the following order: green (leaves), red (tree-trunks, fruit, flowers), blue (flowers, vessels, watermelon), brown (outlines, and some tree-treunks), yellow (flowers), white (flowers). The colours are rarely blended, the exception being the watermelons and ibriks where there is some shading.

As can be seen, these are predominantly plant motifs, obviously painted by an artisan who was keen to overcome the limits of decoration by entering the domain of realistic, and sometimes naturalistic representations. The mosque was painted by an unknown artisan who was not a trained artist. He used subjects dear to the taste and tradition of the general public, as a result of which it is the folk rather than the artistic value of his decorations that stands out (Kajmaković, 1959, 261-263)

In addition to mosques in Mostar, Stolac and Livno, where similar designs are to be seen, some details of the decoration of the Šarena Mosque are almost identical to the corresponding designs on other buildings. The cypress motifs that appear on crosses and tombstones and the ibriks with open lids to be seen on copper items (mainly on copper pans(3)), may be regarded as typical motifs of the popular folklore of the 18th and first half of the 19th century. Some details on the Šarena Mosque, such as ibriks, vases, and cypresses, reveal a close link with the same motifs on metal artifacts, suggesting that they have been simply borrowed from the art of coppersmithing to be used for the wall paintings. (Kajmaković, 1959, 263).

ARRANGEMENT OF THE MOTIFS ON THE FACADES OF THE ŠARENA MOSQUE

A)         NORTH-WEST WALL, SW→NE

1.       Grapevine

2.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-east

3.       Apple-tree

4.       Cypress-tree- top bent to the north-east

5.       Cypress tree – top bent to the south-west

6.       Apple-tree

7.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the south-west

8.       Grapevine

B)         NORTH-EAST WALL, NW→SE(4)

1.       Apple-tree

2.       Grapevine

3.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west

4.       Plum-tree

5.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west

6.       Grapevine

7.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west

8.       Apple-tree

9.       Dish of cherries, vase of flowers, inscription

C)         SOUTH-EAST WALL, SW→NE

1.       Ibrik with open cover and flowers

2.       Grapevine

3.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-east

4.       Large grapevine

5.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-east

6.       Grapevine

7.       Ibrik with open cover and flowers

D)         NORTH-EAST WALL, SE→NW

1.       Vase of flowers, inscription

2.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west

3.       Apple-tree

4.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west

5.       Apple-tree

6.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west

7.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-west ( behind the minaret)

E)         SOUTH-EAST WALL OF THE EXTENSION, SW→NE

1.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the south-west

2.       Cypress-tree – top bent to the north-east

3.       Apple-tree

F)         NORTH-EAST WALL OF THE EXTENSION, SE→NW

1.       Tray with watermelon, with knife stuck into it and a slice removed; grapevine; tray with watermelon with a knife stuck into it.

2.       Ibrik with open cover and flowers; apple-tree; vase of flowers.

As already noted, to the right and left of each tree is a seedling with three florets and leaves.

Each corner of the mosque walls is painted with a vertical blue band up to the lower row windows.

The portico of the mosque extends from staircase-level to the upper painted horizontal line, or in other words, as noted above, up to the third painted zone. The form of the window decorations, including the jambs and lintels, is repeated almost in its entirety on the portico. Two sections can be distinguished: a rectangular one, including the door with a rectangular plaque bearing an inscription, and an arched section set on the rectangular one.

The portico is closed by a door with an arched stone lintel. The arched lintel is painted with alternating squares of blue and dull red. The stone door jambs are also painted in the same dark red.

A wooden double door, also arched, is set between the door jambs. Both halves of the door are richly embellished with the same designs. The outer edge is of undecorated wood. This is followed by a strip filled with small zigzag lines, after which comes another, rather narrower strip with bolder zigzag lines. This creates the optical illusion of depth. Midway on each half of the door, this vertical band is joined by a horizontal one, at the centre of which is a carved rosette from which motifs composed of horizontal capital letter V’s (chevrons?) extend outwards towards the edges. This horizontal strip divides the central section of the two halves of the double door into two, an upper and a lower. The lower is rectangular, and is divided into seven horizontal lines, filled with florets composed of a circle with petals. The upper part is also rectangular, but in this case the central section protrudes towards the top of the door. This space is filled with a honeycomb design, with a floret – a circle with petals – at the centre of each cell of the honeycomb. The rest of this part of the door, towards the top arch, is filled with bold zigzag lines in various directions. There is a circular doorknocker in the middle of each half of the door.

Above the top arch of the door is a rectangular stone surface, the inside of which is painted green. The under side of this section is arched (from the top arch of the door). The surface is filled with a twining floral design painted white and brown. The upper part has a plaque with an inscription. This section is framed in red, with another band, this time blue, surrounding the red band. The blue band is painted with light, zigzag lines. Then comes a narrower brown band, and after it a blue one with a twining floral design of flowers and buds. The decoration of the door frame ends with a thin brown band.

Over this rectangular section is an arched stone section like the one above the windows already described, except that the one over the windows was painted. On both sides of the lower side of the arch is a half lily motif sculpted in stone. The arch narrows towards the centre, where it terminates in a full-blow tulip flower. The edges of the arch are painted blue to a width of about ten centimetres, on which there is a painted design like the one on the door jamb. The central part of the arch contains an inscription along the lower edge and at the top.

ARRANGEMENT OF MOTIFS INSIDE THE MOSQUE

Central prayer area

An elaborately decorated double door leads to the central prayer area of the mosque.

The two halves of the door are decorated in bright colours – blue, yellow, red and green. Each half is surrounded by a green line, and is decorated identically, each divided into three panels by horizontal lines.

The base colour of the first, arched panel is brown. The wider corner contains an appliqué of wooden branchlets forming a twelve-sided rosette. The edge of the rosette is painted red, and the infill is blue, red and pale pink. At the centre of the rosette is a circle with a small, red, six-pointed star around it, surrounded in turn by a larger blue six-pointed star. There is a smaller six-lobed rosette beside the larger one, with a circle at the centre from which branchlets radiate outwards.

The second panel is rectangular and occupies almost the entire surface of the door. A vertical panel runs through the centre of this panel, topped by two small arches. This panel is filled with branchlets forming a triangle with no base line. The bottom, middle and top of the rectangular panel are decorated with small horizontal rectangles, painted yellow, with two bouquets of flowers in each.   This division gives rise to another four vertical rectangular panels, the outer ones painted brown and the inner blue. These are decorated with three posies of flowers.

The third panel of each half of the door is horizontal, and rectangular in shape, with the background painted brown. Three whole rhombs are painted in the central section and two half rhombs to the side.  A posy of flowers is depicted in each rhomb.

The decoration of the interior of the mosque is similar in terms of motifs to the exterior.  It can be divided into two: the decoration on the ground floor, and that of the mahfil.

The most highly decorated wall on the ground floor is the south-east wall. A degree of regularity can be observed in the decoration, which features on the zone of the window jambs and lintels of the lower windows and on the wall surface between the windows. In the zone of the upper windows, the window jambs and the wall surface between the windows are decorated. The window jambs and arched lintels of the lower windows are decorated identically to the outside of the windows, with the top of the arched lintel painted alternately with lily flowers and tulips. The inside of the painted arched area is filled with a tripartite arched form composed of curved leaves, the area within which is filled with tendrils, florets and leaflets. Half lilies are depicted at the end of the arches and on the extension of the window jambs. The colours of the window jambs and arched lintels alternate in a regular pattern – blue, green . . .

The window frames of the lower windows echo the arched shape of the windows. A stylized floral tendril motif is enclosed in a red frame forming a band. The background colour of the band alternates between green and blue.

In addition to the decoration around the windows, the wall surfaces between the windows to the north-east of the mihrab are also decorated.

The lower row of windows is painted with an ibrik with open cover, containing a bouquet of flowers composed of two hyacinth sprays and a tall, much-branched spray of carnations with a few roses.

The upper row of windows features a cypress with cones, the top bent towards the mihrab.

The mihrab frame is decorated in the same way as the mosque portal. The stone frrame has a Saracen arch topped by a lily flower. Half a lily flower features at the foot of the arch on each side and on the extension of the vertical sides. The inner surface of this area is filled with a bulbous shape composed of curved leaves, within which are numerous tendrils with leaflets and tulip and rose flowers, the tendrils appearing to have grown down the vertical sides of the mihrab. The main colour is blue, with some light red and white.

The frame of the mihrab is separated from the rectangular mihrab area by a yellow and white line. The rectangular area is painted green, merging into the white mihrab niche, the upper part of which contains seven rows of multi-coloured stalactites. The seventh, topmost stalactite is ribbed and round-topped. Below it, on the sixth row, are two painted dishes of fruit, one containing a plum and the other an apple. Between them is a red circle.

Above the seventh row of stalactites is a rectangular panel with the following inscription in yellow on a blue ground: “Whenever Zachariah went into the Sanctuary”, the standard Qur’anic ayat for mihrabs (deciphered by Hazim Numinagić, English from the Arberry version of the Qur’an).

The remaining walls on the ground floor of the mosque have no painted decorations apart from a horizontal painted strip along the edge of the mahfil, composed of two rows of stylized tulips.  The white tulips face the mahfil and the green face the floor.

The minber is to the right of the mihrab.

In its architecture, it is no different from the usual type of minber, consisting of three sections:

  1. entrance portal with staircase and wooden balustrade
  2. large upper pyramidal section supported on four pillars
  3. triangular side surfaces below this part and the staircase balustrade

Below are six smallish openings with pointed arches and the usual, much largeer passageway with a shallow pointed arch and framed by a rectangular moulding.

The entire surface of the minber was painted at the same time as the mosque. However, when the wall decorations were whitewashed over, the minber was painted with oil paint. As a result, it was cleaned and restored to its original condition in the 1990s.

The balustrade of the entrance portal is painted blue, and the portal itself is decorated with painted spirgs and hyacinth, rose and tulip flowers with the occasional red bud.

The usual sections of the sides of the minber are painted:

  1. pyramidal canopy or baldaquin
  2. shallow pointed arch over the archways below the minber
  3. triangular panels
  4. six smaller openings.

Side of the minber by the mihrab:

The pyramidal baldaquin is painted green, with small twining designs painted on it. The baldaquin is supported by a red-painted octagon with a Saracen arch pierced below it. The sections are painted dark green with a bold bulbous motif from which floral tendrils emerge.

The side screening the passageway below the pyramidal baldaquin terminates in an arch.  The edges are painted red with green inside. The decorative motifs are in red and yellow, and are composed of a central bulbous design formed of curved branchlets and leaflets. The same design is repeated to the side of the central one, but without the edges. The remaining surface is filled with smaller carnation and tulip flowers, branchlets and leaflets.

The triangular section of the minber can be divided into three units:

  1. the three outer edges

a)       the vertical side

b)       the horizontal side

c)       the oblique side

 

  1. the panel parallel to the oblique side of the triangle
  2. the central triangular panel

The base of the vertical side is painted yellow, with a design of two green, intertwined branches. One is decorated with thinly scattered leaflets, and the other is densely leafy. On each side, beside each leaf, is a tulip flower painted dark and light red. Flower-posies are painted along the edges of the vertical side.

The base of the horizontal side is also painted yellow, and is divided into six rectangles by means of small red applied slivers of wood. Each rectangle contains a single painted motif, as follows (from the passageway below the baldaquin to the base of the stairway):

-          dish of apples surrounded by flower-posies

-          dish with a watermelon surrounded by flower-posies

-          dish of plums surrounded by flower-posies

-          dish of pears surrounded by flower-posies

-          dish of apples surrounded by flower-posies

-          dish with a watermelon surrounded by flower-posies

-          dish of apples surrounded by flower-posies.

The base of the oblique side is painted yellow and divided into four rectangles by means of small red applied slivers of wood. Each rectangle is decorated with a multitude of flower-posies.

The panel along the length of the staircase, parallel with the oblique side of the triangle, is painted blue and decorated similarly to the vertical side of the triangle, except that the colours differ.  One twining branch is green and the other, densely leafed one is dark blue. The florets on the branch are red and green, and those along the edges are white.

The central triangular panel is painted green, with brush strokes of paler green, red and yellow tones simulating the appearance of a flowering meadow.

There is a horizontal row of six openings with pointed arches below the triangular panel. The outer edges of these openings are painted red. The ground colour is alternately yellow and blue. At the base of each opening is a flower spray extending on either side, almost touching at the top of the arch.  The following flowers alternate in these panels:

  1. carnation
  2. hyacinth
  3. dandelion
  4. hyacinth
  5. ibrik with open cover, containing a dandelion
  6. flower-posies

Side of the minber facing the south-west wall:

The usual sections of the sides of the minber are painted:

  1. pyramidal canopy or baldaquin
  2. shallow pointed arch over the archways below the minber
  3. triangular panels
  4. six smaller openings.

Side of the minber facing the south-west wall:

The side screening the passageway below the pyramidal baldaquin is decorated in the same way as the side facing the mihrab.

The triangular section of the minber can be divided into three units:

  1. the three outer edges

a)       the vertical side

b)       the horizontal side

c)       the oblique side

 

  1. the panel parallel to the oblique side of the triangle
  2. the central triangular panel

The base of the vertical side is painted yellow, with a twining vine and yellow grapes.

The base of the horizontal side is also painted yellow, and is divided into six rectangles by means of small red applied slivers of wood. Each rectangle contains a single painted motif, simpler than those on the opposide side of the minber, in that each contains the same red flower-posies.

The base of the oblique side is painted yellow and divided into four rectangles by means of small red applied slivers of wood. Each rectangle is decorated with a multitude of flower-posies.

The panel along the length of the staircase, parallel with the oblique side of the triangle, is painted blue and decorated with a twining vine and yellow grapes.

The central triangular panel is painted green, with brush strokes of paler green, red and yellow tones simulating the appearance of a flowering meadow. 

There is a horizontal row of six openings with pointed arches below the triangular panel. The outer edges of these openings are painted red. The ground colour is alternately yellow and blue.  At the base of each opening is a flower spray extending on either side, almost touching at the top of the arch. The following flowers feature in succession in these panels:

  1. tulip,
  2. six-petalled flower,
  3. tulip,
  4. six-petalled flower,
  5. vase with a branch of round, red fruits (possibly apples)
  6. bouquet of flowers

The pillars supporting the mahfil are painted green, and the capitals red and blue. The corbels of the pillars are elaborately moulded. The main colour is yellow, with the moulded elements painted in red, yellow and blue.

The ceiling on the underside of the mahfil is painted chequerboard style with alternating red and blue squares.

Mahfil  

            The three-sided mahfil consists of two side areas and one on the entrance wall of the mosque. These areas too contain painted decorations. 

The window frames are decorated in the same way as the upper row windows of the south-east wall of the mosque. The colour of the bands on the window frames alternates between blue and green, with a simple tendril motif endlessly repeated. A lily flower also alternates with a leaf topping the arch above the windows. One motif is painted on the wall surface between the windows, and some have an inscription above.

Mahfil on the south – west wall

Decoration on the south – east wall

  1. Cypress with the top bent to the north-east, with a flower stem climbing up the trunk.
  2. Cypress with the top bent to the south-west, with a flower stem climbing up the trunk.  

Decoration on the south – west wall

  1. Tree with an apple, and a flower stem climbing up the trunk. There is an inscription in the top right-hand corner.
  2. Grapevine, with two flower stems climbing up the vine stock. There is an inscription in the top left-hand corner.
  3. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west, with an inscription above the cypress.
  4. Cypress with the top bent to the south-east, with an inscription above the cypress.
  5. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west, with an inscription above the cypress.
  6. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west.
  7. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west.

Mahfil on the north – east wall

Decoration on the south – east wall

  1. Cypress with the top bent to the south-west, with a flower stem climbing up the trunk.
  2. Cypress with the top bent to the north-east, with a flower stem climbing up the trunk.

Decoration on the north – east wall

  1. Tree with an apple, and a flower stem climbing up the trunk. There is an inscription in the top left-hand corner.
  2. Grapevine, with two flower stems climbing up the vine stock. There is an inscription in the top right-hand corner.
  3. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west, with an inscription above the cypress.
  4. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west, with an inscription above the cypress.
  5. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west, with an inscription above the cypress.
  6. Cypress with the top bent to the north-west, with an inscription above the cypress.

Mahfil on the north – west wall

The wall surface between the windows is not painted. The only painted area is a band on the window jamb with the same motif as those on the side mahfils.

A horizontal band is painted along the edge of the ceiling, compossed of intertwined brown semicircles followed by a red or green tulip flower.

The pillars of the mahfil are similar to those of the central prayer space of the mosque, differing in the way the capitals are decorated: each side of the capital features a different motif.

Chaptrels of the south – west wall(5)

 

  1. Chaptrel(6)

a)       tulip flower

b)       watermelon

c)       flower(7)

d)       apple with a flower

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       vase containing five tulips

c)       five tulips

d)       vase containing three flowers

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       vase containing three tulips

c)       flower with five sprigs

d)       dish of apples, two flowers painted on the upper two

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       flower

c)       flower

d)       flower

 

Chaptrels of the north – east wall(8)

 

  1. Chaptrel(9)

a)       flower

b)       flower

c)       flower

d)       flower

     

     2.  Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       flower

c)       flower

d)       watermelon

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       flower

c)       flower

d)       flower

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       dish of apples

c)       flower with three sprigs

d)       flower

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower

b)       flower

c)       flower

d)       flower

 

Chaptrels of the south – west wall(10)

Inner – facing the central prayer space

1. Chaptrel

a)       flower with three sprigs

b)       flower with three sprigs

c)       flower with three sprigs

d)       dish of apples

2. Chaptrel

a)       flower with three sprigs

b)       flower with three sprigs

c)       flower with three sprigs

d)       vase containing three flowers

 

Outer – facing the north – west wall

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower between two fern fronds

b)       flower between two fern fronds

c)       flower between two fern fronds

d)       flower between two fern fronds

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower between two fern fronds

b)       flower between two fern fronds

c)       flower between two fern fronds

d)       flower between two fern fronds

 

  1. Chaptrel

a)       flower between two fern fronds

b)       flower between two fern fronds

c)       flower between two fern fronds

d)       flower between two fern fronds

 

The ceiling surface of the mahvil is the same as that of the ground floor, consisting of a wooden surface resembling a chequerboard, with alternating blue and red squares. The edges of the squares are composedof applied slats.

The main ceiling surface also resembles a chequerboard and is made in the same way as the one on the mahfil. It consists of three sections:

-          an outer rectangular border

-          a central rectangular area

-          a central circular panel

The outer rectangular border of the ceiling is composed of yellow and blue squares separated from each other by thin red slats. The corners of this surface are semicircular with the later addition of a cone with a circle in the middle around a central ball. The rest of the cone area is covered with various geometrical elements. The main colours are red, blue and yellow.

The central rectangular area is also divided into numerous smaller squares, which are diagonally painted green with the corners painted yellow, giving a rhythm resembling a honeycomb to the surface.

The central circular panel is applied to the main ceiling surface in the same way as the cone-shaped elements on the outer rectangular border. The outer rim of the circle is painted red. The circle at its centre contains a smaller circle which in turn contains a ball(11). Petal-like elements with rounded ends radiate outwards from the circle, giving the impression of a large flower. Blue and yellow alternate on the petal-like elements.

A ball is attached at every 2 or 3 metres on the outer edge of the entire ceiling area.

BEZISTAN, SHOPS AND PORTICO ON THE GROUND FLOOR

There were two bezistans (covered markets, suqs) in Travnik, one in Donja čaršija (Lower market place), and the other in Gornja čaršija (Upper market place). Sopasalan Kamili Ahmed-pasha built the first bezistan at some time before 13 August 1757, below the foundations of the restored Gazi-aga mosque. Under the new edifice he built ten shops along a central passageway, and another seventeen under the arcades of stubby columns to the south and west of the building.  The ten shops along the passageway, which was fitted with iron doors to the north and south, constitute the bezistan.  The deed of endowment reveals that the rent of the shops in the bezistan was twice that of the shops in the arcades. This bezistan was used as such until World War II, and until 1918 merchants worked there. The shops in the bezistan were separated one from another by wooden partitions, and had no ćepenak (Oriental-style shop shutters, opening horizontally) (Kreševljaković, Korkut, 1961, page 47).

The restoration carried out in the 1980s also took in the shopfronts and the mosque portico.  The plastered, whitewashed ceiling of the portico was in a state of complete dilapidation. Parts of the wooden structure of the pillars and beams were in largely good condition, but certain parts (two pillars, small areas of the upper beams and the entire lower bearing beam) were in a state of decay. The shopfronts had been completely altered. Only one of the old ćepenak shutters had survived, along with all the typical iron window furniture and the method of opening the upper and lower flaps of the ćepenak. Since there was no documentation, the reconstruction was carried out on the basis of the recollections of older people in Travnik, who remembered that until World War II the all the ćepenak shutters were like this sole surviving one; the others were therefore reconstructed to the same design.  However, in order to adapt them to modern use, they were altered so that the shopfront behind the ćepenak was closed off by a glazed partition with a door. They were reconstructed so that the wooden shutters covered the entire front of one shop grid. The upper flap consisted of two sections joined by a hinge. When open it is folded and attached to a hook on the ceiling of the portico. The lower flap, when open, forms a kind of small, raised entrance platform, in which position it stands on wooden supports. The floor paving of the portico was repaired and completed, the ceiling of the portico was completely renovated, and modern lighting was installed at the corners.

Two shops were completely adapted on the north-east side of the building. The damp stone walls, with weakened joints, were pressure-injected with cement milk with the addition of waterproofing substances, plastered, and painted white. The ćepenak shutters on the north-east side had survived in part. Unlike the others, they were of another type, opening out vertically not horizontally. They were reconstructed to match the surviving ones, using sound wood, and a glass partition was installed on the inside like that of the other shops.

The floors of all the shops were hydroinsulated, and finishsed with floorboards. The bezistan became a kind of department store, and the other shops were used for various different purposes (a goldsmith’s shop, boutiques and a Bosnian café) (Simić, 1989, page 139).

ŠADRVAN FOUNTAIN

The šadrvan fountain erected in the Austro-Hungarian period stood between the retaining wall of the road and the mosque, with a concrete water trough and cone-shaped canopy with a wooden frame and ordinary sheet metal roof cladding. When the works began the wooden components of the šadrvan were already completely rotten. As a result, a detailed survey of its condition at the time was conducted prior to dismantling it. It is not known whether there had been an earlier šadrvan there, dating from the time when the building was erected. Written documents refer to the water supply system and drinking fountain, but not the šadrvan. After assessing the condition of the site and the particular features of the existing šadrvan, the conclusion was reached that it would be pointless to reconstruct it. (Simić, 1989, page 140).

During the 1992-1995 war a wood and stone šadrvan was reconstructed to match the one made in the early 20th century.

ČESMA (DRINKING FOUNTAIN)

The drinking fountain is set into the wall to the left of the entrance to the mosque; it is made of stone with two pillars, above which there is an imitation roof, and has a stone trough in front of the fountain.

The stone plaque with an inscription recording the construction of the drinking fountain is now housed in the Sulejmanija mosque, though originally it was mounted in the wall above the Ruhija drinking fountain, next to the Ćamilija (present-day Sulejmanija) mosque. The inscription is in Arabic prose, in handsome bold naskh script.

“In [paradise] is a fountain whose name is called Salsabil. [Qur’an 76.18]. Benefactor Sulejman Ruhija ćehaja [deputy] of Muhamed-pasha Silahdar. Year 1184 (1770/71)”

 (Mujezinović, 1998, page 416).

The drinking fountain by the Gazi-aga mosque was supplied with water from the Hazna spring.  Sulejman Ruhija, ćehaja of Silahdar Muhamed-pasha, repaired the water supply system and built a drinking fountain with four spouts next to the Ćamilija mosque in 1184 AH (1770). The plaque with this inscription has survived to this day. According to the deed of endowment of this vizier, this fountain and water supply system had its own manager with a daily wage of 1 akča. To this day there is a drinking fountain alongside the Sulajmanija mosque, with two spouts, renovated in 1255 AH (1839) by Šerifa hanuma (lady), née Hizić, married to Ahmed-beg ćehaja of the Bosnian defterdar. The inscription now on the fountain by the Sulejmanija mosque recounts that the fountain was renovated by Šerifa Hafizadić (Kreševljaković, Korkut, 1961, page 96).

The inscription in Arabic prose is incised on a stone plaque measuring 45 x 60 cm, and is set in three elliptical panels. The script is a handsome, flowing jali-naskh.

“And their (God) waters them with the purest waters (Qur’an 76,3)

Wife of Mir-Ahmed, ćehaja of the Bosnian defterdar.

Year 1255.”

(1839/40)

There is a large stone trough in front of the drinking fountain. (Mujezinović, 1998, page 417)

MOVABLE HERITAGE

The Šarena mosque contains two manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an, the vakuf (endowment) of the Sulejman-pasha (Šarena) mosque in Travnik. The first of these measures 34 x 25 x 7.5 cm, and is leather-bound.  It is written in the naskh Arabic script. The text of the Qur’an itself is in black ink, with the sura headings, pause marks, the signs indicating the hizb, juz, places where sajda is required, and other signs in red ink. The transcript is not decorated. It is lacking its first page, which has been subsequently replaced. It is not possible to identify the person who transcribed this m/s, since the place where this should be recorded is stained and indecipherable.

The other manuscript measures 31 x 23 x 4.5 cm, and is leather-bound. It is written in a still more handsome naskh Arabic script. The first two pages of the Qur’an are richly decorated. The pages are bordered with a gold line. The text is transcribed in such a way that three lines, the first, middle and last, are in larger script with the lines in between in smaller script. The sura headings are in gold ink. The transcript is lacking the last few pages so that the name of the person who transcribed this m/s is also unknown.

The year when the Qur’ans were issued is illegible in both cases.

 

3. Legal status to date

The Regional Plan for the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2002 lists the Sulejmanija mosque in Travnik as a Category I monument.

Pursuant to the law, and by a Ruling of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of the National Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, number: 723/50 dating from 1950, the Sulejmanija or Šarena mosque in Travnik was placed under state protection.

Pursuant to the law, and by Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of the National Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, number: 02-793-3 dating from 1962, the Sulejmanija or Šarena mosque was entered on the register of immovable cultural monuments as no.105.

The Šarena mosque in Travnik is on the Provisional List of National Monuments of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments under serial no. 634

 

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

Reconstruction work on the mosque began in the mid 1980s. The roof structure was replaced in its entirety and the shops and bezistan under the building were also reconstructed. The decorations on the inside walls were revealed, cleaned and refreshed, and the ceiling was remade. The floral decoration of the mimber, which had been covered with oil paint between the two World Wars, when the entire building had been renovated in a similar manner, was also renovated in the 1980s works.  The brass and glass chandelier was also added at this time. A detailed description of these works has been given above in the section headed Description of the property – Šarena mosque.

The most important conservation and restoration works on the decoration of the Sarena mosque were carried out in 1990 and 1991. These have also been described in the section headed Description of the property. The works were carried out by the Institute for the Protection of the Monuments of BiH.

The wood and stone šadrvan was restored during the 1992-1995 war.

The drinking fountain next to the mosque was also restored at the same time. The small harem by the mosque with Gazi-aga’s nišan tombstones was also cleared and set in order at that time. (Sujoldžić, 1998, page 39).

 

5. Current condition of the property

An on site inspection of the site in December 2004 ascertained as follows:

The Šarena mosque in Travnik is in a good state of preservation. There is no serious damage to the structure of the mosque. However, the pillars of the bezistan, made of poorer-quality porous stone, are rather dilapidated. Any further deterioration could seriously endanger the building, since they are the principal load-bearers of the entire structure. There is no structural damage.

The exterior wall paintings are relatively well preserved. The latest conservation and restoration works were carried out in 1990. However, the unfavourable climatic conditions, with considerable damp and frost, mean that some of the paintings, especially on the north façade, are at some risk.

The interior is in excellent condition. However, the exterior woodwork is quite badly damaged. Many of the wooden transennas of the second row of windows are damaged. The access staircase is already dilapidated. The most serious damage is to the handsomely decorated wooden doors. Some parts are missing entirely, and others have been replaced by inappropriate new ones. There remain, however, enough elements to carry out a proper restoration of the doors.

 

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 (documentary, scientific and educational value)

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.i.       ontological 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

F. Townscape/ Landscape value

F.i.       relation to other elements of the site

F.ii.      meaning in the townscape

F.iii.      the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site

G. Authenticity

G.i.       form and design

G.iii.     use and function

G.iv.     traditions and techniques

G.v.      location and setting

G.vi.     spirit and feeling

G.vii.     other internal and external factors

H. Rarity and representativity

H.i.       unique or rare example of a certain type or style

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-          Copy of cadastral plan

-          Copy of land register entry and proof of title;

-          Photodocumentation;

-          Drawings

 

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the monument as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

 

1959.    Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti (Encyclopedia of the Fine Arts), publ. by the Lexicographical Institute of the Federative National Republic of Yugoslavia, Zagreb, 1959

 

1959.    Kajmaković, Zdravko, Ornamenti na fasadama Sulejmanije džamije u Travniku [Ornaments on the Facades of Sulejmanija mosque in Travnik], Naše starine VI, Annual of the National Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments and Natural Rarities of the National Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1959

 

1961.    Kreševljaković H., Korkut D.M., Travnik u prošlosti 1464 – 1878 (naročito kao glavni grad Bosne 1699 – 1850) (Travnik in the Past 1464-1878 [especially as the capital of Bosnia 1699-1850]), Library of the Regional Museum in Travnik, Printing and book binding co. in Travnik, Travnik, 1961

 

1978.    Kovačević-Kojić, Desanka, Gradska naselja srednjovjekovne bosanske države. (Urban Settlements of the Mediaeval Bosnian State), Veselin Masleša, Sarajevo, 1978

 

1980.    Institute for architecture, town planning and regional planning of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, Regionial Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina; Stage «B» - valorization of natural, cultural and historical monuments, Sarajevo, 1980.

 

1989.    Simić, Alma, The Šarena mosque in Travnik, Naše starine XVIII-XIX, Annual of the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1989

 

1996.    Çelebi, Evliya, Putopis – odlomci o jugoslovenskim zemljama (Travelogue – Excerpts on Yugoslav countries),  Sarajevo Publishing, Sarajevo, 1996.

 

1998.    Mujezinović, Mehmed, Islamska epigrafika Bosne i Hercegovine (Islamic epigraphics of BiH), bk. II, 3rd ed., Cultural Heritage Series, Sarajevo Publishing, 1998.

 

1998.    Sujoldžić, Enver, Džamije Travnika (Mosques of Travnik), Regional Museum in Travnik in association with ŠIP Borac Travnik, Travnik, 1998

 

1999.    Bećirbegović, Madžida, Džamije sa drvenom munarom u Bosni i Hercegovini (Mosques with wooden minarets in BiH), Sarajevo Publishing, 1999.

 

2000.    Ayverdi Dr. Ekrem Hakki, Avrupa’da Osmanli Mimari  Eserlera Yugoslavya II,3. kitab, Istanbul, 2000

 

(1) Šarena means polychrome, colourful, etc. Trans.

(2) without seeing an illustration of this it is unclear whether, throughout the text, this means an actual lily or a fleur-de-lis.  Trans.

(3) The same motif features on the doorjambs of the south entrance to the church in Foča and on the apsidal opening of the church in Zavala (Kajmaković, 1959, 263)

(4) Half of the wall base (towards the south-east wall) has a yellowish ground colour.

(5) To avoid repeating the direction, the first motif is on the SE side, then on the SW side, then on the NW side and finally on the NE side of the chaptrel.

(6) Direction SE®NW

(7) When the term flower is used in describing the motifs, it refers to an ordinary painted flower with five petals. If the flower resembles a specific flower, its name will be given. 

(8) To avoid repeating the direction, the first motif is on the SE side, then on the NE side, then on the NW side and finally on the SW side of the chaptrel.

(9) Direction SE®NW

(10) To avoid repeating the direction, the first motif is on the SW side, then on the WE side, then on the NE side and finally on the NW side of the chaptrel.

(11) A large light fitting is attached to the ball.



TravnikArchitectural ensemble of the Šarena (Sulejmanija) mosqueŠarena (Sulajmenija) mosqueŠarena (Sulejmanija) mosque, archival photo
Šarena (Sulejmanija) mosque, north-eastern wall North-eastern facadeNorth-eastern facade, detailNorth-eastern facade, annex
North-western wallNorth-western facade, detail of the painted decoration   North-western facade, window North-western facade, door
Bezistan in the ground floor Bezistan, storesInterior of the mosque, mihrab and mimberInterior of the mosque, mahfil
Interior of the mosque, detail of painted decoration    


BiH jezici 
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