Xhamia e Sinan Pashës

The Sinan Pasha Mosque is located in the historic zone of the city of Prizren. With its dominant position, the dimensions, the form, the proportion of the minaret to the cupola, the materials and construction technique, and the rich interior decoration, the Sinan Pasha Mosque presents one of the most characteristic monuments of Prizren built in 1615. It has a square plan with a niche (mihrab) in the southeastern part that makes the mosque more specific compared to other mosques in Kosovo. The minaret of the mosque is made of pumice stones (siga), with a square base and circular body. Before the entrance to the mosque there is an open, stone-made porch. The porch has three lead-covered domes that rest on circular-base stone columns. The mosque is covered by a large dome with a diameter of 42.5 m. The interior is a unique space, illuminated through the windows at levels, with a dome painted in floral motifs in three phases. The first two phases of wall paintings applying the “al-seko” technique belong to the 16th-17th centuries, while the third phase applying the Baroque style with prevailing blue motifs belongs to the 19th century. On the south side of the mosque there is a large courtyard surrounded by stone walls. According to the typology, Sinan Pasha's mosque belongs to the type of mosques with a mihrab and a stone-built porch, in which there is also a mihrab. Until 1912, the mosque served for religious purposes, while during the Balkan wars and the First World War it suffered major damage, especially its porch. With the establishment of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in 1967, monumental care began. Thus, after the renovation of 1968 and 1969, the mosque was transformed into an Oriental Manuscript Museum, while during 1973-1978 the restoration and conservation of wall paintings took place. From 2007 to 2011, restoration works were carried out both in the interior and in the exterior. Based on the traces and old documents, the complete reconstruction of the porch, the reinforcement of the cupola, the replacement of lead coverings, the restoration and the preservation of the murals were made. In 2011, the Sinan Pasha Mosque was opened again in the service of the believers after a long period of time. Based on its historical, artistic, scientific, spiritual and rarity values, the Sinan Pasha Mosque asset was proclaimed a site under permanent protection by the Kosovo Council for Cultural Heritage in 2016.