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 9 to 12 February 2010 the Commission adopted a

D E C I S I O N

I

The architectural ensemble of the Šarena [painted/coloured] (Časna [venerable, holy], Atik [old], central, Behram-bey) Mosque with harem and the entrance portal and site of the Behram-bey Medresa in Tuzla, Municipality Tuzla is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument consists of the Šarena [painted/coloured] (Časna [venerable, holy], Atik [old], central, Behram-bey) Mosque with harem and the entrance portal and site of the Behram-bey Medresa in Tuzla.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot nos. 151/1 and 151/2; 3/1 and 3/2 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 4/75; 4/76; 4/77; 4/78; 4/100 and 4/101 (old survey); cadastral municipality Tuzla; Land Register entries no. 1999 and 452; a.m. Tuzla, Municipality Tuzla, 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, 6/04 and 51/07) 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 providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the protection, conservation, restoration and presentation of the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and erecting signboards with basic details of 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:

-          conservation-restoration works may be carried out on the Šarena (Časna, Atik, central, Behram-bey) Mosque, and works designed to ensure the sustainable use of the property, including those designed for the presentation of the National Monument, 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);

-          works that could endanger the National Monument are prohibited;

-          the National Monument may be used for its original purpose;

-          the original dome and the baldachin roof over the sofas may be reconstructed following an analysis of their structural condition and in line with the original design;

-          a structural repair project shall be drawn up, and the damage shall be made good and the foundations additionally secured against subsidence, with the approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority;

-          the monument shall be accessible to the public;

-          damage to the façade shall be made good;

-          the air conditioning unit shall be removed from the north-east façade of the mosque;

-          the Behram-bey Medresa may be reconstructed in its original form and footprint (a single-storey building with a flat roof, with the approval of the relevant ministry and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority). The bearing structure should be a modern light-weight structure that will not exert excessive pressure on the soil, which is prone to subsidence;

-          the addition of a šadrvan fountain of contemporary design is permitted.

IV

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

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 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

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of BiH.

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Martin Cherry, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović and Ljiljana Ševo.

No: 06.3-02.3-71/10-8

11 February 2010

Sarajevo

Chair of the Commission

Ljiljana Ševo

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.

On 10 February 2003 the Centre for Islamic Architecture Sarajevo submitted a proposal/petition, received under ref. 08.1-6-159/03, to designate the immovable property of the Behram-bey (Atik, Šarena) Mosque in Tuzla as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

On 22 January 2010 the Behram-bey Medresa, a public body, submitted a proposal/petition under ref. 02/1-52/10 to designate the old building and courtyard of the Behram-bey Medresa in Tuzla (on the square [a small public park]) as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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 para. 4 of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

Statement of Significance

The Šarena (Časna, Atik, central, Behram-bey) Mosque was built in 1888 on the site formerly occupied by the oldest mosque in Tuzla, built before 1533. The mosque, medresa and mekteb were destroyed by the fire that swept through Donja Tuzla on 10 September 1871. The Šarena Mosque, designed by Franc Mihanović (with alterations to a design by Franc Kuril), is a rare and outstanding example of a mosque of that date and style, its significance enhanced by the original painted decoration, which has retained its authenticity despite being partly plastered over on the façades.

II – PRELIMINARY PROCEDURE

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

-          Details of the current condition and use of the property, including a description, architectural drawings and photographs;

-          Details of alterations or other works on the property, etc.;

-          An inspection of the condition of the property conducted on 19 October 2009;

-          The position taken by the owner (the Board of the Islamic Community in Tuzla and the Behram-bey Medresa in Tuzla, a public institution) in support of designating the property as a national monument;

-          Copy of cadastral plan for c.p. nos. 151/1 and 151/2 (new survey), issued on 13 October 2009, with transcript of title deed no. 1442 and identification of c.p. nos. 4/74, 4/76, 4/77 and 4/78 (old survey), issued on 13 October 2009;

-          Copy of cadastral plan for c.p. nos. 3/1 and 3/2 (new survey), issued on 15 January 2009, with transcript of title deed no. 342 and identification of c.p. nos. 4/100 and 4/101 (old survey), issued on 15 January 2010;

-          Copy of Land Register entry no. 1999, issued on 15 October 2009;

-          Copy of Land Register entry nos. 1999 and 452;

-          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 Šarena Mosque in Tuzla stands on a slight elevation in the Atik mahala in Tuzla.  The entrance sequence consists of the harem of the mosque, with a number of graves older than the mosque building. The Behram-bey Medresa stood to the north of the mosque; all that now survives is its entrance portal, in front of which is a square(1) (a small public park with a circular walkway) on account of which the Šarena Mosque is often known as the Mosque on the Square.

The National Monument, consisting of the Šarena (Atik, Časne, central, Behram-bey) Mosque with harem and the entrance portal and site of the Behram-bey Medresa, is located on a site designated as cadastral plot nos. 151/1 and 151/2; 3/1 and 3/2 (new survey), corresponding to c.p. 4/75; 4/76; 4/77; 4/78; 4/100 and 4/101 (old survey); cadastral municipality Tuzla; Land Register entries no. 1999 and 452; a.m. Tuzla, Municipality Tuzla, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical information

Archaeological excavations in the areas formerly known as Gornja (Upper) and Donja (Lower) Tuzla have uncovered archaeological remains dating back to prehistoric times. Since its very origins, the area of present-day Tuzla and its environs has been associated with salt mining.  The Neolithic settlement in Donja Tuzla lay on a slope on the right bank of the little river Jala, the highest point of which was “the dominant position where the old or Šarena Mosque now stands.(2)” 

The development of Donja Tuzla into a small town (varoš) into a kasaba(3) began with the construction of a mosque known as the Časna [venerable or holy], after which the mahala was also known as the Časna mahala.  As Donja Tuzla developed, so new mahalas took shape. From 1910 on, Donja Tuzla was known simply as Tuzla.

The earliest reference to the Časna Mosque dates from 1548, and it must have been built after 1533, since there is no reference to it in the spahi census of that date(4). The founder is also unknown. The vakuf [pious endowment] of the Časna (Atik) Mosque dates from the first half of the 15th century, but it is not known who established the vakuf.  In the early 17th century Behram-bey(5) set up a vakuf which included the renovated Časna (Atik) Mosque and the newly-built medresa(6). The mosque is also frequently called the Behram-bey Mosque, even though Behram-bey was not its founder.

The earliest written record of the medresa is in 1674 by Bishop Olovčić, who called it the Collegium impiorum Softarum(7). When other mosques were built in Donja Tuzla, the Časna mosque came to be known as the Atik (Old) Mosque, and the name of the mahala changed with it from Časna to Atik.  Until the mid 16th century this was the main mahala in Donja Tuzla.

In the 17th century the mosque was restored by Behram-bey. In 1669 and 1701 the Yevmiye defterleri refers to it as the Behram-bey mosque in the “Memlehatejn.(8)”  The mosque was “built of unfired brick with a wooden dome(9) and had no minaret.”(10) The medresa, which was built next to the mosque at the same time as the mosque was under restoration, was part of the complex. Also belonging to the mosque and medresa was the Atik mekteb [primary or Qur’an school], part of the vakuf of the Atik mekteb established in the 16th century(11). The mosque, medresa and mekteb were destroyed by a fire that swept through Donja Tuzla on 10 September 1871.(12)  

            The mosque in the pseudo-Moorish manner was built before 1888 to a design by the architect Franc Mihanović(13), approved by the district prefect Antun Vuković. It belongs to the type of single-space mosque with dome. Its two-tone façade, typical of the pseudo-Moorish style, and painted interior have given rise to the popular name Šarena, the coloured or painted mosque.

We read in the Salnama [almanach] for 1888 (1306 AH) on page 39: “For two hundred years a wooden mosque without a minaret stood on the same site, where this fine mosque with a minaret has now been erected on its foundations.”(14)  

In 1895(15), after the timbers of the dome were damaged after the lead cladding was removed, the architect Franc Kuril produced a design for its adaptation, replacing the original wooden dome with a hipped roof. Though the design did not provide for the pillars and roof over the sofas to be demolished, they were in fact taken down during the renovations, and sofas with masonry piers linked by horseshoe arches and covered by a triple-paned roof were built.

The Behram-bey Medresa was built in 1893 very close to the site of the Atik medresa that had been destroyed by fire. The Behram-bey Medresa was a single-storey building with a flat roof that soon began to deteriorate, reflecting the fact that the technology of the time was not up to building a flat roof able to withstand the climatic conditions. An adaptation project was designed by architect Franc Mihanović, which was approved by the Provincial Government, giving the medresa another storey and a new hipped roof. The newly-adapted medresa was opened on 29 April 1907(16). 

In 1939 the medresa was given a two-storey extension by the north wing, increasing its capacity to twenty classrooms and boarding accommodation for 120 pupils.

The medresa housed war orphans from 1912 to 1923, during which time classes continued in another building(17). The medresa moved back into its own building in 1923, and was closed down on 17 January 1949(18). After its closure, the building was housed to house first a school of economics, then a school of medicine and administration, the Historical Archives and the Museum of Eastern Bosnia.

The unchecked, unplanned extraction of salt in former Donja Tuzla, accompanied by extensive subsidence, caused serious damage to or the destruction of a number of buildings. In 1973 and early 1974 the medresa building suddenly began to be badly affected, leading to its demolition in April 1974.

Thanks to Mevludin Ekmečić of Tuzla, an academic painter, the entrance portal of the medresa was rescued, and was restored in late February 1975, following the demolition of the rest of the building. The original tarih [chronogram] over the entrance has not survived.

2. Description of the property

The Šarena (Časna, Atik, central, Behram-bey) Mosque in Tuzla was built in 1888 on the site of the oldest mosque in Tuzla. It was built in the pseudo-Moorish manner, in which the blend of traditional architecture and foreign influences gave rise to the creation of a distinctive architectural expression. The use of relief and painted decoration, one of the main features of the pseudo-Moorish manner, finds one of its finest expressions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Šarena Mosque in Tuzla, where the decoration is both in relief and painted. The pseudo-Moorish style is used consistently throughout the building – in the treatment of the façade, the shape of the openings, the use of decorative crenellations, the string courses and cornices, and the treatment of the interior.

The mosque belongs to the single-space type of mosque. It originally had a wooden dome over the prayer hall. The minaret is stone-built, with a solid base to the octagonal shaft of the minaret with an open šerefe (balcony), surmounted by an onion dome. The sofas were originally covered by a three-pitch roof in the form of a baldachin, finished in the same way as the façade, with two-tone bands running from top to bottom of the roof. The uprights of the sofas are wooden, with relief stucco decoration on the arches. Horseshoe arches with stucco decoration also feature in the interior, on the mahfil and mimber. In 1895 the dome over the prayer hall was replaced by a hipped roof with wide eaves, which is still in place today. The wooden sofas with their baldachin were in 1960 and replaced by new sofas with eight masonry piers linked by arches. Instead of the baldachin-like roof, the new sofas were given a wide-eaved, triple-paned roof as a counterpart to the hipped roof.

The building measures 10.29 x 12.90 in plan, with the sofas measuring 7.00 x 4.60 m.  The masonry part of the building is about 10.00 m in height, while the height of the sofas from ground level to the top of the roof is approx. 8.30 m. The overall height of the building to the top of the alem [finial] on the dome was about 17.00 m, while the height to the top of the new hipped roof is about 11.60 m. The minaret is about 23.00 m in height to the top of the alem(19). 

The mosque and sofas stand on a stone plinth with four steps leading up to it in, set centrally between the sofas, which are 80 cm above ground level. The piers on the sofas are rectangular in section, with sides of 64 and 34 cm, and stand on bases that are 83 cm in height and slightly wider than the piers, the shafts of which are 1.83 m in height. The piers at the corners of the sofas (west and north) are joined to give the impression of an L-shaped pier. A low railing extends between the piers on both sofas. The piers are topped by stepped capitals widening to the sides only of the piers, which are linked by horseshoe arches. The wall above the arches and piers is solid, and terminates in a moulded cornice. The triple-paned roof rests on the walls of the sofas.

The entrance to the mosque is in the central axis of the north-west wall of the building. The entrance portal is accentuated by a simple projecting frame without mouldings on either side and over the doorway. It is fitted with two double-valved doors, one by the outer face of the wall and the other by the inner face, and flanked on each side by a rectangular, horseshoe-arch topped window. A thin, slightly protruding moulding echoes the shape of the horseshoe arches. The windows are fitted on the outside with grilles that are both decorative and provide security.  Wooden slats form a diamond lattice filled with small panes of frosted glass decoration alternating with plain glass panes. Old postcards show that the entrance façade was originally richly decorated, with a pointed arch over the portal and a tarih above that, and panels decorated in relief over the windows. The entire wall surface was decorated, probably in a combination of painted and bas-relief decoration, which was later covered over. The entrance façade now has neither its tarih over the doorway nor its decorative paintwork.

The north-east façade has two ranks of windows, three windows below and four biforate windows above. The south-east façade has two windows below and two biforate windows above between which, above the mihrab, is an oculus. The south-west façade has three lower windows and three biforate windows above. A string course separates the two ranks of windows. The lower windows are identical to those of the sofas.

The slender, elegant biforate window rests on three uprights with simple geometric and floral decorations on the capitals and bases (zigzag lines and acanthus leaves). The central upright is round in section, and the other two, which are square, are partly engaged. The biforate window terminates in a trefoil, two lobes of which form the arches, with the third accentuated by a solid circular panel. On the inside the windows are fitted with equal-sized panes of stained glass divided by wooden bars.

Above the biforate windows is the roof cornice, in the form of two ranks of stalactites in bas relief, the first of which, set just above the relief panels above the biforate windows, is concave while the second is convex. This stalactite cornice in bas relief is not typical of this type of decoration. Originally the topmost stalactite cornice was surmounted by crenellations, but since the original onion dome has been replaced by a hipped roof, it was not possible by examining the mosque as it now stands to determine whether any part of these crenellations survive under the new roof. The façade was originally finished in alternating horizontal bands of red and yellow.

The minaret stands by the south-west wall of the mosque. The base of the minaret is of the same height as the walls of the mosque, and is rectangular in plan, with sides of 2.47 and 2.75 m. It has three windows which are like the lower windows of the mosque, except that their rectangular section is not as high. These windows are not fitted with wooden lattice. The windows themselves are of iron profiles. The lower rectangular section has two movable lights, while the horseshoe arch is glazed with a fixed pane. The shaft of the minaret is octagonal, with an outer diameter of 1.90 m. Two-thirds of the way up the central section of the minaret shaft are tall, narrow, arched windows on alternating sides, eight in all. This part of the minaret was originally painted like the façade of the mosque, in alternating two-tone bands. The first two-thirds of the central shaft of the minaret is separated from the top third by a string course. Here, above each tall narrow window, is a small oculus. Another string course features almost at the top of the central shaft of the minaret. There were no horizontal two-tone bands between the string course dividing the shaft into two and the šerefe.  Below the šerefe, at the top of the shaft of the minaret, are stalactite cornices like those at the top of the mosque walls. The šerefe rests on small iron brackets set at the juncture of the sides of the minaret, and has an iron platform and railing; the railing consists of eight uprights linked by three horizontal, two diagonal and one central upright bar, forming a design reminiscent of an eight-pointed star. The iron uprights are higher than the railing, and are surmounted by small iron capitals; they are linked by wooden arches. Above the arches but below the moulded wooden cornice that bears the onion dome above the šerefe is a rectangular panel with a lattice of slats. The dome is surmounted by an iron spire on which the finial of the minaret is mounted.

The interior of the mosque consists of an entrance hallway, the central hall and a mahfil.  The entrance hallway is separated from the main prayer hall by massive masonry piers. A double-flight wooden staircase by the north-west wall of the mosque, lying north-east/south-west, leads to the mahfil.  Between the staircase and the central hall, in the north corner of the mosque, is a small room for the imam, with a doorway in the partition wall facing the entrance hallway.  The partition wall facing the central hall echoes the outer line of the piers, and has a small window. The rest of the entrance hallway is open.

The central prayer hall of the mosque is square, with sides of 9.00 m on the inside, and a height of 8.00 m. The mihrab is in line with the entrance portal. The mimber is by the north-east wall, and the ćurs [low pulpit] by the south-west wall.

The mahfil is above the entrance hallway. A door in the south-west wall leads from the mahfil to the minaret, which has a wooden staircase with a central shaft. The piers separating the entrance hallway from the central prayer hall rise up above the mahfil, and are subtly combined with the wooden railing, wooden uprights and horseshoe arches. Slender wooden columns, circular in section, are set on the outer corners of the massive piers, two on each side, thus forming three open panels, in each of which are four wooden uprights linked by horseshoe arches of the same width as the massive pier. The main bases of the wooden uprights rest on the floor of the mahfil and are the same height as the mahfil railing, at 80 cm. The spaces between these bases consist of the wooden boards of the railing, which cross over the massive piers. The railing lies south-west/north-east. Above it, secondary bases consisting of a wooden cube and the moulded circular base of the wooden uprights rest on the main bases. The wooden bases have capitals in the form of a truncated cone. In addition to the horseshoe arches over the openings of the mahfil facing onto the central prayer hall, smaller-sized decorative horseshoe arches are set over the massive piers. The space above the arches is filled to ceiling height with wooden boards. The ground colour of the partition is light brown, and the details are in dark brown. The panels of the railing are treated differently, depending on whether they are against the masonry pillar or closing the openings facing onto the central hall. Those against the pillars have a rectangular field painted dark brown, in the middle of which is a light brown circle, merging into the ground colour, with a dark brown stylized five-pointed star in the centre. The panels in the openings also have a rectangular dark brown field, interrupted by a central light brown circle and merging with the ground colour. Here the stylized five-pointed star is recessed. Arabesques are painted in light brown on the dark brown of the rectangular panels. The wooden panels above the arches are painted to resemble diamond lattice, in alternating dark and light brown. The panels above the arches are framed by a thin dark brown line echoing the line of the piers and the upper line of the panels above the arches.

The substantial foundations and walls of the mosque are of solid brick. The walls are 65 cm thick including the plaster. The piers of the entrance portico are also of solid brick. The ceiling joists are of timber. The onion dome and the baldachin over the sofas also had wooden frames; the dome was clad on the outside by lead, and the baldachin was probably faced with wood, plastered, and then painted in two-tone vertical stripes. The roof frames of the hipped and triple-paned roofs that replaced the demolished onion dome and baldachin are also wooden. The roofs were clad with tiles. The floors and ceilings of the mosque, like the stairs of the mahfil and minaret, are wooden.

Inside, the central hall is divided into three registers, the lower, the upper (where the biforate windows are) and the ceiling, each differing in painted decoration and style of openings.

The lower register is separated from the floor by a socle of marble slabs, beige in ground colour with green and maroon lines. The inside walls are painted with stencilled ornamentation, typical of the turn of the 19th and 20th century. The ground colour of the walls is pale blue, against which stylized violet-blue flowers curving to left and right alternate rhythmically with leaf sprays. The spaces between the lower windows and on the mahfil have an all-round border of a band with a geometric ornament.

Light enters the prayer hall through window niches, each of which has a frame painted to imitate a stone wall. The arched windows are divided into two halves decorated by diagonal rhombs, some of which contain stained glass panes with a stylized floral motif in white. The lower part of the windows contains undecorated double-valved doors divided into six identical square panels. The inside of the window niches is accentuated by a painted decoration composed of a line forming a triangle at the top and a rhomb at the bottom.

The lower register and that of the biforate windows are separated by a string course in the form of a cable-twist extending along the outer walls of the mosque and the partition wall between the entrance hallway and the central hall. The light entering through the biforate windows is enhanced by the splay at the bottom of the windows, making them larger on the inside. The space between the horseshoe arch over the biforate windows and the round arch is painted with a trefoil motif with an orange flower in the central circle over the biforas. In this register the windows are accentuated by a painted frame of bold stylized green flowers. The inside of this frame is decorated with a combination of yellow lines and thin orange bands.

The transition from the register at biforate-window level to the ceiling register is rounded at the juncture of the walls and the ceiling to form a concave coving, and is painted to resemble a stepped parapet. The ceiling above the central prayer hall is divided by a dark brown geometric band into four sections, within which is a regular pattern of large eight-pointed stars, with each point accentuated in a different pastel colour, between which are small dark flowers. The ceiling above the entrance hall is in plain pale blue with two sections surrounded by a border of lines with a floral motif.

The architectural design is enhanced by the use of colour, in places accentuating the windows and in others the transition between structural elements. There is a striking connection between the painted decoration and the details. The layout of the painted motifs and the coherence of the interior suggest that the walls were prepared in advance for painting.

A mihrab, mimber and ćurs form part of the essential elements of every mosque.

The mihrab stands out against the south-east wall, with a semicircular central niche surmounted by a semi dome. The decoration of the first register continues over the mihrab. The socle of beige marble with green and maroon lines continues across the mihrab on both sides as far as the niche. The edges of the projecting section of the mihrab are marked by a vertical band with geometric ornament. The ground is light blue, with stylized orange-yellow flowers at the corners between the niche and the levha below the rope-twist string course that extends along the walls and across the mihrab. The crown of the mihrab above this string course is evenly stepped; in the centre it bears a projecting ring in which a levha is inscribed. The top of the crown terminates in a garland of stylized lily flowers. The mihrab is 2.11 m wide and 4.60 m high.

At the top of the mihrab, the basmala is inscribed in gold letter on a blue ground in thuluth Arabic script, forming a circle:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Bismi-Llahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

            Below this, in thuluth Arabic script in a rectangle below the rope-twist string course is part of sura 3 verse 39 of the Qur’an:

فنادته الملائكة و هو قائم يصلي في المحراب

And the angels called to him, standing in the Sanctuary at worship.

The mimber is by the south-west wall.  It has a footprint of 0.98 x 3.06 m, and a height to the topmost cornice of 4.38 m, or to the top of the finial of about 6.10m. The bearing construction, steps and facing of the mimber are of wood.  In addition to the light and dark brown that features on the woodwork of the interior, the mimber is also decorated in beige. Dark brown is the main colour at the base of the mimber steps, with the edges picked out in beige stripes. The entrance to the mimber consists of two uprights and the crown of the portal, terminating in a cornice in the form of a stylized lily flower. Above the entrance is an inscription [the shahada or confession of faith] in gold lettering on a black ground, in thuluth Arabic script:

لا اله الا الله محمد رسول الله

There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God.

The wooden stair railing of the mimber is painted beige with an infill of light brown, with two rows of octagons recessed into the wooden panel. Echoing the line of the railing, on the underside of a band of stylized lily flowers, is a strip of light brown. The top of the mimber has four uprights linked by horseshoe arches. The wooden panels above the arches, below the ceiling of the mimber, are painted with floral decorations in beige on a dark brown ground. The ceiling of the mimber projects out slightly beyond the pillars and arches on three sides. On three sides the ceiling of the mimber bears a cornice of stylized lily flowers. The mimber terminates in an eight-segmented onion dome, on which arabesques are painted in beige on a dark brown ground. The dome of the mimber is surmounted by a metal finial.

The ćurs is by the north-east wall, and is also wooden, from the same workshop as the mimber. In form it is an octagon with only five of its sides. It stands raised on a central plinth that widens in an arch towards the outside. Here too the decoration is in beige and light and dark brown, just as on the mimber, where the ground colour is beige, with light brown arabesques on a dark brown ground in the panels on the sides of the ćurs. The dark brown panels are framed in light brown. The ćurs is topped by a dark brown moulded railing with a flat top.

The nine names usually featuring in Bosnian mosques are arranged on three of the mosque walls. All are in thuluth Arabic script in gold lettering on a blue ground.

On the mihrab wall:

الله جل جلاله

Allah, the Almighty (right)

and

محمد عليه السلام

Muhammad, peace be upon him (left)

On the south-west wall:

ابو بكر رضي الله عنه

Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. (front)

عثمان رضي الله عنه

‘Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him (middle)

حسن رضي الله عنه

Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him (rear)

بلال رضي الله عنه

Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him

(on the mahfil above the door to the minaret)

On the north-west wall:

عمر رضي الله عنه

‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him

علي رضي الله عنه

‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him

حسين رضي الله عنه

Husein, may Allah be pleased with him

The harem of the Šarena Mosque in Tuzla occupies the area outside the entrance front of the mosque, to the north-west, and is reached by the access steps. The pathway from the steps to the sofas of the mosque is flanked on either side by graves with nišan tombstones. There is another entrance to the harem from the north-east, beside which is a fountain. There are no traces of a harem by the other walls of the mosque. The harem of the Šarena Mosque now contains six nišan tombstones that predate the mosque, and belong to the previous mosque and harem on this site.

1. Man’s nišan with mušebak [reticular] turban, measuring 16x15x75 cm. The epitaph on the nišan, in ta’liq script in the Arabic language, is partly damaged.

المرحوم و المغفور محمد علي ابن علي قاضي زاده نور الله افندي حاكم المحكمه ....سنة 1252 في 21 ن

Beloved and forgiven Mehmedalija, son of Alija Kadić, Nurulah effendi judge at the court... Year 1251, 21 Sha’ban (01.12.1836).

2. Old stone nišan with pleated turban, square in section with sides of 19x19 cm and a height of 100cm. The nišan, which has no epitaph, bears a carving of a sword on one side and a rectangular niche on the other.

3. Stone nišan with pleated turban measuring 14.5x15x55 cm. It is partly buried, so that only the first few words of the epitaph, written in Arabic in thuluth script, can be seen.

الفاتحة هذا صاحب النشان ......

Fatiha. The owner of this nišan ……

4. Man’s nišan with turban measuring 17x15x63 cm, without epitaph.

5. Nišan in the form of a stela measuring 24x15x70 cm, without epitaph.

6. Nišan with čatal [bifurcate] turban, square in section with sides of 15.5 cm and a height of 90 cm, with a damaged, barely decipherable epitaph in Arabic.

كل نفس ذائقة الموت المرحوم و المغفور له ....الحاخ درويش .....

All shall experience death. Beloved and pardoned hajji Derviš ……

7. Nišan with pleated turban, square in section with sides of 16 cm and a height of 50 cm, with a hajji’s band, without epitaph.

The Behram-bey Medresa, built in 1893, was a single-storey corner building with three wings, with a flat roof. The south-west entrance façade was 13 m long, the east wing was 15.5 m long, and the north-east wing was 33 m long; the building occupied an area of about 530 m2. In addition to the entrance, the central section of the building also contained a dershana [lecture room], with classrooms in the side wings. The central entrance façade faced south-west, with wings facing east and north-east at an angle of 60 degrees from the central wing. The entrance portal was in the central axis of the entrance façade, standing proud of the wall face and exceeding the other walls of the building in height. The area above the entrance doorway was in the form of two semi domes, one above the other, with stalactites in the first. The portal was surmounted by crenellations, and flanked by two rectangular openings in elongated niches. The wings of the medresa each had five windows of the same design. All the walls of the medresa were topped, like the entrance portal, by crenellations. The Behram-bey Medresa was built in the pseudo-Moorish style, and had the typical two-stone façade of alternating horizontal bands of red and yellow.

When the medresa was altered, it acquired another storey and a hipped roof. A double-flight staircase was added in the east wing.  It gained a new dershana and additional classrooms on the first floor. The windows on the first floor were of the same design as those of the ground floor, with the rectangular frames extended to surround both openings. A new rectangular window was added above the portal. The façade was painted when these alterations were carried out, altering the pseudo-Moorish appearance of the façade.

The substantial walls of the medresa were of solid brick.

3. Legal status to date

The Behram-bey (Šarena, Atik, Časna, central) Mosque with burial ground and medresa was listed by the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but was not on the register of immovable cultural properties.

4. Research and conservation-restoration works

There are no details of any investigative or conservation works on the property.

In 1960 the original two-tone façade of the Šarena Mosque was covered by light yellow façade spray paint. The details in bas relief around the windows were picked out in white.

Other alterations included the replacement of the tile roof cladding of the triple-paned roof over the sofas with galvanized iron.

The Behram-bey Medresa was demolished in 1974, except for the entrance portal, which was saved and restored to its original condition. It was again restored during the 1992-1995 period.

It was thanks to Mevludin Ekmečić of Tuzla, an academic painter, that the entrance portal was saved, and restored in late February 1975. The original tarih [chronogram] over the entrance has not survived.

5. Current condition of the property

The findings of an on-site inspection on 19 October 2009 are as follows:

Šarena Mosque:

-          the façade is still as it was in 1960. The final coat is flaking away in places;

-          the minaret has been repainted beige, and the lines separating the horizontal bands can barely be seen;

-          inside the mosque has retained its original appearance (mihrab, mimber, ćurs, mahfil railing and stencilled decoration);

-          structural cracks can be seen on the windows on both sides of the mihrab in the mihrab wall, extending from the biforate windows down to the lower windows;

-          structural cracks can be seen on the arches above the piers of the sofa (on the north-east and south-west arches at the juncture of the sofa walls and the mosque);

-          in the interior, there is damage to the plaster at the juncture of the ceiling and wall on the south-west façade.

Portal of the Behram-bey Medresa:

-          the remains of the medresa, consisting of the entrance portal, measure 4.50 x 2.30 m in plan;

-          the building is stable and in a relatively good state of preservation;

-          structural cracks can be seen on the south-west wall of the portal, caused by poor treatment of the foundations in earlier restorations, where they were not treated for subsidence;

-          damage to the final finish of the façade of the portal;

-          damage to the flooring.

6. Specific risks

            Subsidence.

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.ii.      quality materials

C.iii.      proportions

C.iv.      composition

C.v.       value of details

C.vi.      value of construction

D.         Clarity

D.iii.      work of a major artist or builder

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

E.         Symbolic value

E.ii.      religious 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.ii.      material and content

G.iii.     use and function

G.iv.      traditions and techniques

G.v.      location and setting

G.vi.      spirit and feeling

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:

-          Ownership documentation:

-         Copy of cadastral plan for c.p. nos. 151/1 and 151/2 (new survey), issued on 13 October 2009, with transcript of title deed no. 1442 and identification of c.p. nos. 4/74, 4/76, 4/77 and 4/78 (old survey), issued on 13 October 2009;

-         Copy of cadastral plan for c.p. nos. 3/1 and 3/2 (new survey), issued on 15 January 2009, with transcript of title deed no. 342 and identification of c.p. nos. 4/100 and 4/101 (old survey), issued on 15 January 2010;

-         Copy of Land Register entry no. 1999, issued on 15 October 2009;

-         Copy of Land Register entry nos. 1999 and 452.

-          Photodocumentation:

-         Photographs of the Šarena Mosque in Tuzla and the portal of the Behram-bey Medresa, Municipality Tuzla, photographed on 4 November 2004 by Emir Softić BSc.Arch using CanonPowerShot G3, 19 October 2009 by Hazim Numanagić, BA Or., using CanonPowerShot 420 digital camera, and 19 October 2009 by final-year architecture student Nermina Katkić using Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H10 digital camera.

-          Other documentation:

-         Architectural drawings of the Šarena Mosque in Tuzla, surveyed by Medina Hadžihasanovć-Katana BSc.Arch. and final-year architecture student Nermina Katkić, drawings by Nermina Katkić

Bibliography

1941     Kreševljaković, Hamdija. Turalibegov vakuf u Tuzli, prilog povijesti XVI stoljeća. (The Turalibey vakuf in Tuzla, contribution to the history of the 16th century) Sarajevo: State Press. 1941.

1959     Handžić, Adem. “Tuzlanske solane” (The salt works of Tuzla). Prilozi za orijentalnu fililogiju (Contributions to oriental philology), vols. VIII-IX. Sarajevo: Oriental Institute in Sarajevo, 1958-59.

1971     Benković, Ambrozije. Tuzlansko područje negda i sada, s posebnim osvrtom na vjerske prilike (The Tuzla area then and now, with particular reference to religious circumstances). Đakovo: 1971.

1975     Handžić, Adem. Tuzla i njena okolina u XVI vijeku (Tuzla and its environs in the 16th century). Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1975.

1982     Hadžimehanović, Refik M. “Ljetopis tuzlanskih džamija” (Chronicle of the mosques of Tuzla), Takvim 1982. Sarajevo: Rijaset of the Islamic Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1982.

1987     Krzović, Ibrahim. Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine 1878-1918 (Architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina 1878-1918). Sarajevo: Art Gallery of BiH, 1987.

1998     Kurto, Nedžad. Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine razvoj Bosanskog stila (Architecture of Bosnia and Herzegovina: development of the Bosnian style). Sarajevo: Sarajevo Publishing, International Peace Center, 1998.

1999     Bećirbegović, Madžida. Džamije sa drvenom munarom u BiH (Mosques with wooden minarets in Bosnia and Herzegovina). Sarajevo: Sarajevo- Publishing, 1999.

2004     Sarić, Sajma. “Behrambegova medresa u Tuzli“, Stav, časopis za društvena pitanja, kulturu i umjetnost. (The Behram-bey medresa in Tuzla. Stav: periodical for social issues, culture and art) yr II. no 8-9. Tuzla. Derviš Sušić National and University Library. 2004. Monos, Gračanica.

2006     Djedović, Rusmir. “Vakufi u Tuzli od XVI do XX stoljeća”. Zbornik radova, Ciklus tribina “Veliki vakifi Bosne”. (Vakufs in Tuzla from the 16th to the 20th century. Collected papers, lecture series “Great benefactors of Bosnia”). Tuzla: BZK Preporod, Tuzla branch. 2006.

Documentation of the Archive of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Documentation of the Institute for the Protection and Use of the Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Tuzla Canton

Photographic documentation of the Board of the Islamic Community Tuzla

Photographic documentation of the Behram-bey Medresa in Tuzla

(1) Translator’s note: Bratoljub Klaić’s dictionary of “foreign words” gives the meaning of the word “skver,” clearly derived from the English “square” and so translated in this text, as “a small public park.” 

(2) Handžić, Adem, Tuzla i njena okolina u XVI vijeku (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1975), 15.

(3) Donja Tuzla is referred to as a kasaba in 1548. [kasaba – a small provincial town, from the Arabic qasaba, a citadel: Trans.]

(4) Nothing is known of Donja Tuzla between 1533 and 1548.

(5) Of whom there are no written records

(6) Djedović, Rusmir, “Vakufi u Tuzli od XVI do XX stoljeća”, Zbornik radova, Ciklus tribina “Veliki vakifi Bosne” (Tuzla: BZK Preporod, Tuzla Branch. 2006), 73.

(7) College of impious students

(8) Handžić, Adem, Tuzla i njena okolina u XVI vijeku (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1975), 15.

(9) Judging from similar buildings of this period, the wooden dome was probably in fact the domed ceiling inside the building (op. MHK)

(10) Hadžimehanović, Refik M, “Ljetopis tuzlanskih džamija”, Takvim 1982 (Sarajevo: Rijaset of the Islamic community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1982), 118.

(11) Djedović, Rusmir, “Vakufi u Tuzli od XVI do XX stoljeća”, Zbornik radova, Ciklus tribina “Veliki vakifi Bosne” (Tuzla: BZK Preporod, Tuzla branch. 2006), 71.

(12) For more on the fire see the “telegraph despatch of the Vilayet government no. 274 of 19 September 1971”

(13) Krzović, Ibrahim, Arhitektura Bosne i Hercegovine 1878-1918 (Sarajevo: Art Gallery of BiH, 1987), 113.

(14) The Salnama is housed in the Gazi Husrev-bey Library in Sarajevo

(15) ibid

(16) Sarić, Sajma, ”Behrambegova medresa u Tuzli,” Stav, časopis za društvena pitanja, kulturu i umjetnost. godina II. broj 8-9, Tuzla, Derviš Sušić National and University Library, 2004, Monos, Gračanica, 94.

(17) Šabić, Šefket, “Kratki podaci o nižoj okružnoj medresi u Tuzli”, Izvještaj za 1939/40 (Tuzla: 1940), 3.

(18) ibid, 95.

(19) The heights given are taken from the Austro-Hungarian blueprints, and may not be wholly accurate