Kosovo - Sinan Pasha Mosque

PRIZREN - Sinan Pašina džamija (Sinan Pasha Mosque).

Sent by Volker, a postcrosser from Germany.

This is from Wkipedia : The Sinan Pasha Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Sinan Pashës, Serbian: Синан Пашина Џамија, Turkish: Sinan Paşa Camii) is an Ottoman mosque in the city of Prizren, Kosovo[a] . It was built in 1615 by Sofi Sinan Pasha, bey of Budim. The mosque overlooks the main street of Prizren and is a dominant feature in the town's skyline.

Sinan Pasha Mosque was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990 by the Republic of Serbia.

Sofi Sinan Pasha started construction of the mosque in either 1600 or 1608. Sofi Sinan Pasha, a former beylerbey and kaymakam in Bosnia should not be confused with grand vizier Sinan Pasha, who built the Sinan Pasha Mosque in the nearby city of Kačanik.

It is widely considered that the stones used to build the mosque were taken from nearby Saint Archangels Monastery. In fact, parts from the monastery can be seen at the mosque. The monastery, which was abandoned after the arrival of the Ottomans in the 16th century, had fallen to ruins by the 17th century. Hasan Kaleshi, an Albanian historian, sustained in 1972 that Sofi Sinan Pasha couldn't have possibly ordered any monastery destruction as this was impossible without a Sultan decree, rather, he ordered the use of the spare stones to a better deed as ordered by the Sultan.

The mosque once housed a madrasah and a portico that were demolished in 1939, though traces of the madrasah can still be seen.