Fethija Mosque
Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
About
When Ottomans came to this area in 1592 and conquered the last fortification in Una Basin - Bihac, much had changed and altered within the fortification walls of the town. First thing that new authorities did was reconstruction of the existing Churches into Mosques. By the order of the commander of Ottoman Army and long-term commander of Bihac, Hasan-Pasha-Predojevic, St. Antun Church was transferred into the main Mosque in town - Fethija (conquered). Old records show that St. Antun Church was built at the end of 13th and beginning of 14th Century and that it was tastefully built sacral building in gothic style with high roof, pointy rooms made of decoration stone and octagon bell tower. Next to the Church stood a Dominican Monastery which was mentioned in the charter of Croatian feudal lords back in year 1266. Ottoman builders did however leave some of the old outlines of the Church. Few windows on south and north side of the Church were sealed up and new windows opened and gothic rosette above the big entrance door was preserved. At the very base of the minaret there are still two undamaged inscriptions in Arabic that talk about construction of this religious monument. For four centuries Bihac's Mosque Fethija has been defying time. It survived numerous bombings of the city and sufferings of people from "Krajina" but it remained monolith, beautiful and worth admiring. Fethija Mosque is one of the most preserved sacral monuments in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
