MOSQUÉE ESMA-SULTAN

The four mosques in the old town were destroyed during the last war and rebuilt since. The most important is the Esma-Sultan Mosque (Džamija Sultanije Esme). It is the only one in the country named after a woman, along with the recent Princess Al-Jawhara Cultural Center in Bugojno. It was built in 1750 on the site of a 16th century mosque that was the heart of the Sharia, the commercial and Islamic quarter. The present building preserves the memory of this, as it is also called the Sharia Mosque (Čaršijska Džamija). A plaque indicates that it was erected in 1749/1750. Tradition attributes the construction to Esma Sutan (1726-1788), daughter of Sultan Ahmed III. An influential woman, she was the wife and lover of several high-ranking figures. But it is unlikely that the princess is the origin of the mosque. She did marry the governor of Bosnia Muhsinzade Mehmed Paşa, but only in 1758. He was not appointed to the post until 1760, so it was after its construction that the mosque took the name Esma Sultan, presumably when her husband became grand vizier of the Empire in 1765. In Ottoman style, the mosque is covered by a dome and forms an almost perfect square (9.49 × 9.55 m), while its minaret rises to 29 m high. It was destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt identically in 2010. Next to it is the monument created in 2017 in honor of the Bosnian "martyrs" of Jajce killed in the last war.

Other mosques. To the southeast, near the Banja Luka Gate, stands the Hadži-Muharem Mosque (Hadži Muharemova Džamija), also known as Šamića. Dating from the 19th century and with a wooden minaret, it was rebuilt in 2016. Near the fortress, the Dizdareva Mosque (Dizdareva Džamija) was erected by dizdar Mehmet-beg Kulenović (1776-1806), after whom the town of Vakuf Kulen is named. The building is also known as the Women's Mosque (Ženska Džamija), probably in memory of Mehmet-beg Kulenović's seven daughters who died while he was making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Damaged in 1992 and renovated in 2002, it has a beautiful interior decoration. Finally, under the eastern part of the fortress, the small Sinan-bey mosque (Sinan-Begova Džamija) dates from 1689. It is nicknamed the "Okić Mosque" (Okića Džamija), after the imams of the same family who succeeded each other here for generations. All its wooden elements, including its roof and minaret, burned down in 1992. The building reopened in 2002.