The Mosque of Kalaun Yusuf Pasha in Maglaj

Its Date of Construction and Stylistic Features

Abstract

The present article is just a small stone in the colorful cultural history of Bosnia. It deals with three aspects of one of most beautiful and important historical mosques of Bosnia, that of Kalaun Yusuf Pasha in the town of Maglaj on the Bosna. It tries to establish the date of construction of the mosque and find the identity of its founder. Until now this has not been done in a satisfying manner. The name Kalaun or Kalavun is very rare, making identification easy/ The historical data on the founder, who came from Maglaj, pin him down in the second decade of the 17th century, when for a few years he rose to the lofty rank of Defterdar of the Ottoman Empire and shortly afterwards was governor of some place in Anatolia. In this function he both had the money and the opportunity to build a great and monumental mosque in his native town.

The third aspect discussed is the place this mosque occupies in the Islamic architecture of Bosnia. In fact the stylistic data would have been enough to place the building in the 17th, instead of the 16th century, as have has been done by all who previously wrote about it.