Prioritized Intervention List:

Ÿ         Country:
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Ÿ         Name of organization compiling the information:
Commission to Preserve National Monuments

Ÿ         Contact name:
Mirela Mulaluć Handan

Ÿ         email address:
mirela@aneks8ko.com.ba

The monument, sites or ensemble

Ÿ         Name and address of building(s) or site:
Site and remnants of the architectural ensemble of Aladža mosque in Foča (Srbinje)

Ÿ         Inventory reference number(s):
Provisional List of National Monuments No.:211

Ÿ         Ensemble type(s):
Architectural ensemble consists of mosque, fountain, wall fountain, graveyard and turbe (mausoleum) – monumental ensemble

Ÿ         Building type(s):
Religious - Mosque

Ÿ         Main date(s):
Date of construction 1550.

Ÿ         Current use(s):
Currently not in use

Significance:

The Hasan-pasha mosque (Aladža or Šarena – coloured – mosque) was built in 1550/1 (957 AH).  By the second half of the 16th century the mosque had already acquired the name Aladža, on account of its rich painted and carved decoration (alaca = colored) – in 1588 one Ali Čelebija is referred to as the hatib of the Aladža mosque.  The founder of the Aladža mosque was called Hasan, son of Jusuf Sinanuddin, and he was the supervisor of all the imperial lands in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from which he had the nickname Nazir (inspector).  He died in Buda as defterdar (finance minister) of the city.

The Aladža mosque, symbol of the town, is located on the right bank of the river Ćehotine.  It was distinctive in its architecture, its structural proportions, and its geometric and floral decoration, evidence that Hasan Nazir did not stint his wealth when he decided to build a mosque of unique beauty.  The master-builder Ramadan had built 21 mosques before the Aladža.  Its foundations are 10.15 m (33 cubits) long and 13.75 m (25 cubits) wide.  The walls are 110 cm thick.  The 36 m tall, slender, quadrangular minaret stood out for its virtuosity.  Each field of the pedestal of the minaret was carved with fine motifs in the Arab style, all different.

The inscription above the entrance door to the mosque, incised on a stone plaque measuring 90 x 50 cm, formulated in three elliptical fields, is a masterpiece of calligraphy.

The skill with which the decoration was executed on the stone surfaces of the mihrab, mimber and mahfil, the portal and the capitals of the portico, is also evidence of the superb craftsmanship of the stonemason.

The mihrab was very imposing and of unusual size for mosques in this country, with a height of 6.07 m and a width of 2.64 m.  The mimber in the mosque was equally handsome and created with the same artistic skill.  The finest Islamic wall paintings in Bosnia were those of the Aladža mosque.

At the same time as the mosque, the turbe of Hasan Nazir’s son was built in the mosque harem.  To the north of the mosque portico a šadrvan fountain was erected for abdest – ritual ablutions.

The large burial ground (14,000 sq.m.) north of the Aladža mosque had a large number of tombstones, ranging from ordinary stone blocks dating from the 15th century, the transitional period from the stećak tombstone, to nišan tombstones.  There was a fountain in the south wall of the harem.

Categories of Significance:

Of outstanding national importance

Categories of ownership or interest:

Of national interest

Documentation and bibliographic references:

Commission to Preserve National Monuments

Technical documentation –project of conditions before destruction - Institute for monuments of the Federal Ministry for Culture and Sport

Condition:

Amount of war or associated damage:

            5. Destroyed

Durring the war 1992.-1995. in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Aladža mosque was complitly destroyed. Fragments of the mosque were taken away.

By the harem of Aladža mosque, garbage depony is placed today.

Risk:

Ÿ         The site of the architectural ensemble is at risk of rapid deterioration due to failure to implement a minimum set of clearing and protection measures of the site.

Ÿ         The remnants of the destroyed monument are imposed to further deterioration

Ÿ         Rehabilitation of the monument could be misused for political reasons such as obstruction of the implementation of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina – provision of conditions for return process.

Condition risk:

B. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric, solution  agreed but not begun

Technical assessment and costing:

Project for pre-works for the rehabilitation – project of clearance, protection and conservation of remnants, and project for the rehabilitation are to be done.

The National Monument shall be reconstructed in its original form, on its original site, with the use of identical or similar material and authentic methods of construction, on the basis of information on its previous.

Prior to the start of rehabilitation works on the ensemble of the mosque, the surface layers of soil shall be removed to uncover the original foundation walls, and the original sections of the foundations and walls shall be repaired and consolidated.

All fragments of the destroyed building that are recovered either on site or in other places to which they were taken after the demolition of the building shall be collected up, registered, photographed and reintegrated into the reconstructed building by the method of anastylosis, with the use of traditional binders (mortar) and traditional building techniques.  Until such time as they are so reintegrated all the fragments recovered shall be properly preserved.

Parts that are missing for which documentation on their original form and condition is available shall be made by the method of repristination from the same type of material as they were originally made of.

Fragments that are too badly damaged to be rebuilt into the structure shall be appropriately conserved and displayed as part of the ensemble of the mosque buildings.  All usable material recovered from the walls of the mosque shall be built into the mosque.

All the elements of the mosque ensemble, including the vegetation, walls, fountain and turbe, shall be rehabilitated in accordance with existing graphic and photographic documentation forming an integral part of the Decision of the Commission. 

Costing proposals for projects and rehabilitation works have not been done.

Ownership:

Religious denomination - Islamic community of BiH

Occupation:

Not occupied

Management:

The provisions relating to protection and rehabilitation 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 Republika Srpska no. 9/02) shall apply to the National Monument specified in the preceding paragraph.

In accordance to the Law, the Government of the Republika Srpska shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, display and rehabilitate the National Monument.

Further, the Government of the Republika Srpska, the Ministry responsible for town planning of the Republika Srpska, the heritage protection authority of the Republika Srpska, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified by the Decision issued by the Commission to carry out the measures stipulated above (Technical assessment and costing).  Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

Summary:

By its architecture, structural proportions, and geometric and floral decoration Aladža mosque was one of the most important mosques in Bosnia and Hercegovina. 

The Regional Plan for BiH to 2000 classified the Aladža mosque as category I – object of national importance. 

The priority level of intervention is HIGH.

NOTE:

Condition

1. Destroyed

Condition risk

B. Immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric, solution agreed but not begun

Criteria employed for the Priority Intervention List:

Ÿ         The monuments are designated as national monuments,

Ÿ         They represents rear or unique example of the typology or chronological - stylistic corpus,

Ÿ         They are damaged/destroyed during the 1992-1995 war in BiH or they are endangered by the post war conditions (illegal constructions, lack of funding for restoration and maintenance, inexpert reconstruction,…) and are imposed to further deterioration,

Ÿ         Their restoration will encourage return process in BiH,

Ÿ         Their restoration will support development of the region.