Djamila
Bosnjakinja
The second in my series "A Mosque's Story", this one dedicated to a mosque so beautiful that I honestly cried the first time I stepped inside.
The Beglučka (Begluchka) Mosque is centrally located in the town of Livno. It's built on the Topovi hillside which stretches from one of the highest mountains in Livno down to the Bistrica river in the valley below. It is located on Katarina Velika, Bosanska Krajlica (Catherine the Great, Bosnian Queen) Street. The mosque is located on a large green meadow which used to be a cemetery and is surrounded by scattered houses from centuries ago.
Although human beings have lived near Livno since 2,000 BC, the modern town of Livno did not grow until a town until the 1500s when it was made the official residence of regional Islamic rulers. At this time the Begluchka Mosque was built, beginning in 1567.
We cannot say for certain who built the mosque, but it used to be known as the Lala Pasha Mosque and there was an Islamic ruler in Livno named Lala Pasha. The Turkish writer Evlija Celebi describes it as the Lala Pasha Mosque in his memoirs of travelling through Bosnia, which were written in the 1600s. There are also documents from the reign of Mustafabeg which describe this area of Livno as the Lala Pasha Mahala (residential neighborhood).
Lala Pasha is known in Bosnian documents by three different names Mustafa-Pasha, and Lala Mustafa-Pasha Sokolovic being the other two. He ruled the area from 1574 until 1577. At this time, the capital city of the district was Klis but for some unknown reason the rulers decided to live in Livno, perhaps because of its beauty and seclusion. Livno quickly became the largest and most developed town in the region.
Some of the records we have about the Lala Pasha Mahala include knowing that there were 38 households there in 1603. There were also two furrier businesses, four tannerys, one saddlery, and one carpenter business.
Directly beside the mosque was built a school known as Begluchki also. The school taught very specific subjects, teaching Livno children only language, poetry and prose, and penmanship - all to be done using the Holy Quran. It was also included in the school's declaration that Lala Pasha would pay for the education of thirty poor children, 15 boys and 15 girls, every year from his own money.
There was also an inn across the street where travellers would stay on their way from the far western ends of Bosnia to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. It was used for this purpose at least until 1911. We also know that Hajji Jusuf son of Muhammed of Livno, a poet, was the mosques muezzin to sing the call to prayer in his earlier years. Hajji Jusuf is also the first know astrologer in this part of the world, so it's quite a famous claim for the Begluchka Mosque to have. He created a sundial clock for the mosque, which still exists today, and is a very famous piece.
The Begluchka Mosque also had many famous Imams, including the Isanic family which translated much of the Holy Quran into Bosnian language.
Livno was occupied by Italians during the Holocaust and in April of 1941 the last prayer was held at the mosque for the time. It was converted to horses' stables by the Italian military, until a year later when protests by residents of Livno became so severe the Italians were forced to return the mosque to the Islamic community.
We know that many poems exist about the officials who served at the Begluchka Mosque which praise their having memorized the whole Quran and their melodious voices. We also know that it was the site of the marriage of Hasana daughter of Avdo to a Turkish soldier. It was written of Hasana that she was most beautiful woman God had ever created and a violent riot broke out in Livno when she turned 17 and was given permission to choose a husband to marry. The people were so unsettled, especially the bachelors, that she was ordered to marry a Turkish soldier and sent to Istanbul, away from Livno forever.
The Begluchka Mosque, and all of Livno's mosques, were built by local architects - something very unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where most mosques were built with instruction from the famous Mimar Sinan. It is built short and strong because, although Livno has excellent summers, its location on a mountain at the edge of a very wide prairie means it suffers tremendous wind and storms in winter. A thin minaret, or a mosque with flat surfaces, would result in dangerous wind damage.
The declarations inside this mosque, carved into its stones, read:
Although human beings have lived near Livno since 2,000 BC, the modern town of Livno did not grow until a town until the 1500s when it was made the official residence of regional Islamic rulers. At this time the Begluchka Mosque was built, beginning in 1567.
We cannot say for certain who built the mosque, but it used to be known as the Lala Pasha Mosque and there was an Islamic ruler in Livno named Lala Pasha. The Turkish writer Evlija Celebi describes it as the Lala Pasha Mosque in his memoirs of travelling through Bosnia, which were written in the 1600s. There are also documents from the reign of Mustafabeg which describe this area of Livno as the Lala Pasha Mahala (residential neighborhood).
Lala Pasha is known in Bosnian documents by three different names Mustafa-Pasha, and Lala Mustafa-Pasha Sokolovic being the other two. He ruled the area from 1574 until 1577. At this time, the capital city of the district was Klis but for some unknown reason the rulers decided to live in Livno, perhaps because of its beauty and seclusion. Livno quickly became the largest and most developed town in the region.
Some of the records we have about the Lala Pasha Mahala include knowing that there were 38 households there in 1603. There were also two furrier businesses, four tannerys, one saddlery, and one carpenter business.
Directly beside the mosque was built a school known as Begluchki also. The school taught very specific subjects, teaching Livno children only language, poetry and prose, and penmanship - all to be done using the Holy Quran. It was also included in the school's declaration that Lala Pasha would pay for the education of thirty poor children, 15 boys and 15 girls, every year from his own money.
There was also an inn across the street where travellers would stay on their way from the far western ends of Bosnia to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. It was used for this purpose at least until 1911. We also know that Hajji Jusuf son of Muhammed of Livno, a poet, was the mosques muezzin to sing the call to prayer in his earlier years. Hajji Jusuf is also the first know astrologer in this part of the world, so it's quite a famous claim for the Begluchka Mosque to have. He created a sundial clock for the mosque, which still exists today, and is a very famous piece.
The Begluchka Mosque also had many famous Imams, including the Isanic family which translated much of the Holy Quran into Bosnian language.
Livno was occupied by Italians during the Holocaust and in April of 1941 the last prayer was held at the mosque for the time. It was converted to horses' stables by the Italian military, until a year later when protests by residents of Livno became so severe the Italians were forced to return the mosque to the Islamic community.
We know that many poems exist about the officials who served at the Begluchka Mosque which praise their having memorized the whole Quran and their melodious voices. We also know that it was the site of the marriage of Hasana daughter of Avdo to a Turkish soldier. It was written of Hasana that she was most beautiful woman God had ever created and a violent riot broke out in Livno when she turned 17 and was given permission to choose a husband to marry. The people were so unsettled, especially the bachelors, that she was ordered to marry a Turkish soldier and sent to Istanbul, away from Livno forever.
The Begluchka Mosque, and all of Livno's mosques, were built by local architects - something very unique in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where most mosques were built with instruction from the famous Mimar Sinan. It is built short and strong because, although Livno has excellent summers, its location on a mountain at the edge of a very wide prairie means it suffers tremendous wind and storms in winter. A thin minaret, or a mosque with flat surfaces, would result in dangerous wind damage.
The declarations inside this mosque, carved into its stones, read:
"What a skilled painter would paint
His Excellence, Governor of Livno
[Name unreadble] conceived doing a good deed
In building this mosque
In a pleasant and beautiful place
He laid the foundations of this splendid building
The equal of which, in these parts,
No one has ever seen before."
"This is a wondrous house of God
And you regard its dome, it is like the vault of the heavens
Oh God! How appealing this place has become
Is it a mosque, or a heavenly abode
With the power of God this property is a dedicated temple
A place where the heart of sincere believers turn to the Kaaba
It is lovely, which is a link with God
With all the heart of the blessed builder."
His Excellence, Governor of Livno
[Name unreadble] conceived doing a good deed
In building this mosque
In a pleasant and beautiful place
He laid the foundations of this splendid building
The equal of which, in these parts,
No one has ever seen before."
"This is a wondrous house of God
And you regard its dome, it is like the vault of the heavens
Oh God! How appealing this place has become
Is it a mosque, or a heavenly abode
With the power of God this property is a dedicated temple
A place where the heart of sincere believers turn to the Kaaba
It is lovely, which is a link with God
With all the heart of the blessed builder."
