Šerefudin's White Mosque () is a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

in Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The original mosque was built in 1477, and it was completely reconstructed and finished in 1980 under architect Zlatko Ugljen. In 1983 it received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The jury commended the mosque for its boldness, creativity and brilliance, as well as its originality and innovation. In 2007 Hungarian architects called it one of the three best designed places of worship in Europe.

Plan, structure and materials

The mosque comprises five functional areas: *Access space and first courtyard *Mosque proper *Annex building * Graveyard *

Minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...

s The central space of the mosque is designed both for praying and other religious activities such as lectures and discussions. The indoor area for praying is an annex building. The annex consists of a small

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

and an office. Traditionally, in Bosnian mosques, graveyards act as a buffer between mosque and other buildings, but in this case, the graveyard is isolated. Architect Zlatko Ugljen used the traditional layout of Bosnian mosques which consist of a courtyard leading to a square praying area, over which rises a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

. The difference is in an unusual arrangement of this concept, where large

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

panels make this mosque more integrated with the rest of the building. Windows with five panels symbolizes Five Pillars of Islam, but also casts light in the interior. The southeast facade of the cupola is faced toward the Ka'ba. Fountains,

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

and other decorative elements are simple, just like the calligraphy in the interior which is simple and readable. Both the interior and exterior of the mosque are painted white, while the beige color was used for the floor, and

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

for a few metallic elements, like frames and tubes. Building materials used were plastered

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

for walls and cupola, white mortar for the inner walls, a combination of pine wood and white mortar for surfaces of many interior elements, local travertine tiles for exterior paths and courtyard paving, and

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

tubes for minarets, while the floors inside of the mosque are covered with green carpet.

Aga Khan Award for Architecture

The Aga Khan Development Network listed this mosque as one of the most valuable modern mosques built in Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying:

"Its geometrically simple plan encloses a complex, slope-ceilinged, skylit volume, pure, abstract, sparsely ornamented and painted white. The archetypal Bosnian mosque has a simple square plan crowned by a cupola and entered by means of a small porch. The White Mosque's plan conforms to the archetype, but its roof is a freely deformed quarter of a cupola, pierced by five skylights... The effect is one of confrontation between the elementary plan and the sophisticated hierarchy of roof cones. The principal symbolic elements, mihrab, minbar,
minaret A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer (''adhan'') from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols of Islam's presence. They can h ...
and fountains, have a fresh folk art character subtly enhanced by the avant-garde geometries of their setting."

References

External links

48 images of mosqueComprehensive description of mosque with photosThe Diversity of Mosque Architectures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Serefudin'S White MoSque Buildings and structures in Visoko Mosques completed in 1980 Mosques in Bosnia and Herzegovina Sunni mosques in Europe

Plan, structure and materials

Aga Khan Award for Architecture

See also

References

External links