Mustafa-Pasha mosque, Skopje

A historic monument, located in the old part of Skopje

In the vicinity of Kursumli-an, in the old part of the city this monument of the Islamic culture attracts the attention with its size and beauty. The mosque was built by Mustafa Pasha in 1519, the vizier of the Sultan Selim I. Particularly attractive part of this building is the tall minaret, made of cut stone, whereas the expanded part is decorated with ornaments.

The Mustafa Pasha Mosque was built on an older Christian sacred site. A marble tablet with an inscription in Arabic script reveals that the mosque was built in 1492 as a memorial of Mustafa Pasha. Mustafa Pasha was an important and respectable personage in the Ottoman Empire. He possessed large estates in Rumely; as a vizier to Sultan Selim I, he also received four villages nearby Skopje. He died in 1519 and was buried in the tomb situated near the northeast wall of the mosque.

The mosque has a rather simple square foundation covered with a dome. Inside the mosque, on its southeast side, there are a mihrab (niche of a mosque indicating the direction of Mecca) and a mimbar (pulpit) ornamented with plastic decoration made of marble. Above the entrance gate, inside, there is a type of gallery - mehvil, in which the muezzins perform their service. A vestibule erected on four marble columns with three small domes is found in front of the mosque. The mosque is built with alternate layers of carved stone and two layers of bricks.

The minaret is built with carved limestone, in a slightly lighter shade of white than the limestone used in the construction of the mosque. The wider part of the minaret is made of marble and is ornamented. The enclosing slabs are ornamented with round and six-pointed rosettes.

Although the mosque did not suffer any substantial damages in the 1963 earthquake, minor conservation was carried out anyway.

From Stara Skopska Carsija (The Old Skopje Bazaar) by Kosta Balabanov