The Sultan Murad Mosque (; ; ) is an Ottoman-era mosque in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. It was built in the 15th century on top of the Monastery of Saint George which was destroyed when Ottoman commander

Pasha Yiğit Bey Pasha Yiğit Bey or Saruhanli Pasha Yiğit Bey (, also ''Pasaythus'' or ''Basaitus''; died 1413) was an Ottoman Turkish civil and military officer at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century. Life He was born in Manisa and was of ...

captured Skopje from

Vuk Branković Vuk Branković ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Бранковић, , 1345 – 6 October 1397) was a Serbian medieval nobleman who, during the Fall of the Serbian Empire, inherited a province that extended over present-day southern and southwestern Serbia, enti ...

in 1392.

History

It was built with Sultan Murad's money donation. The mosque was built in 1436. The Sultan Murat Mosque complex, the only Sultan endowment in Skopje, stands on a low hill in the central part of Skopje's Old Bazaar. It was burnt down and heavily damaged a number of times during its existence, events and changes to which the three inscriptions above the entrance refer. The first time of the fire was 1537, after which it was reconstructed by Sultan Suleyman in 1539. The second time, it was burnt down by the Austrian armies led by their military leader

Piccolomini The House of Piccolomini (pronounced ) is the name of an Italian noble family, Patricians of Siena, who were prominent from the beginning of the 13th century until the 18th century. The family achieved the recognized titles of Pope of the Catho ...

, who set the whole city on fire. It was renewed after twenty three years in 1711 by decree of

Ahmed III Ahmed III (, ''Aḥmed-i sālis''; was sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at Hacıoğlu Pazarcık, ...

. The mosque underwent repair work for the last time in 1912, decreed by

Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd (; or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the penultimate List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1918. Mehmed V reigned as a Constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarch. He had ...

. In terms of its architectural features, as one of the largest mosques in Skopje, it belongs among the most significant specimens of Ottoman building in the Balkans. It has a basilica

architectural form In architecture, form refers to a combination of external appearance, internal structure, and the Unity (aesthetics), unity of the design as a whole, an order created by the architect using #Space and mass, space and mass. External appearance Th ...

and is covered with a four-ridged roof. This is similar to the Early Constantinople style in Ottoman architecture. The interior is partitioned into three naves with rows of three columns, while the ceiling is made of a flat wooden coffered ceiling. The ''mihrab'', ''minber'' and ''mahvil'' date from the 1910s. The

Türbe ''Türbe'' refers to a Muslim mausoleum, tomb or grave often in the Turkish-speaking areas and for the mausolea of Ottoman sultans, nobles and notables. A typical türbe is located in the grounds of a mosque or complex, often endowed by the ...

of Ali Pasha of

Dagestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Fede ...

stands next to the east facade of the Sultan Murad Mosque. It houses two stone sarcophagi, the burial site of Ali Pasha's wife and daughter. The Türbe of Bikiy Han stands on the south side of the mosque. In the interior, there are five tombs without inscriptions. With its grand monument, the Türbe of Bikiy Han is the largest among this type of edifices which survive in North Macedonia. There is a

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

in the area surrounding the two türbe, with several grave markers. Sultan Murad Mosque stands on a plateau next to the clock tower. The main architect of the mosque was Husein from

Debar Debar ( ; , sq-definite, Dibra or Dibra e Madhe) is a city in the western part of North Macedonia, near the border with Albania, off the road from Struga to Gostivar. It is the seat of Debar Municipality. Debar has an ethnic Albanian majorit ...

. The mosque has remained mostly undamaged through the fires and earthquakes

has sustained. The Sultan Murad Mosque is rectangular in shape, with a porch including four columns with decorated caplets, connected by arcades.culture.org.mk

References

Ottoman mosques in North Macedonia Buildings and structures in Skopje Buildings and structures completed in 1436 Mosques completed in the 1430s Old Bazaar, Skopje {{NorthMacedonia-struct-stub