Ferhat Pasha Mosque

Ferhat Pasha Mosque, also known as the Ferhadija Mosque, is a central building in the city of Banja Luka and one of the greatest achievements of Bosnia and Herzegovinas 16th century Ottoman Islamic architecture in Europe. Commissioned by the Bosnian Sanjak-bey Ferhat-paša Sokolović, the mosque was built in 1579 with money that, as tradition has it, were paid by the Auersperg family for the severed head of the Habsburg general Herbard VIII von Auersperg and the ransom for the generals son after a battle at the Croatian border in 1575, where Ferhat-paša was triumphant. The mosque with its classical Ottoman architecture was most probably designed by a pupil of Mimar Sinan. The mosque was demolished in 1993 at the order of the authorities of Republika Srpska and was rebuilt and opened on 7 May 2016. The ensemble of the Ferhadija mosque consisted of the mosque itself, the courtyard, a graveyard, the fountain, 3 mausoleums, and the surrounding wall with the gate. The mosque was one of 16 destroyed in the city of Banja Luka during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995. In 2001, a building permit was granted to the Islamic Community of Banja Luka to reconstruct the mosque. The site, with its original architectural remains, is listed as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.