BAJRAKLI MOSQUE

This mosque (Xhamia e Bajraklive, Bajrakli džamija) is the oldest and most beautiful in the city. It is a good landmark, since it is located in the heart of the old sharia. Relatively untouched by the destruction of 1999, it suffered significant damage when it was burned by the Italian occupiers in 1943. It was renovated in 2018 with funding from Turkey. The mosque is known by three names. First, xhamia Sulltan Mehmet Fatih, in honor of its donor, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror, who had it built around 1471, about fifteen years after the Ottoman capture of Peć (1455). It is also called Qarshi xhamia, since it is the central element of the ancient sharia. Finally, its customary name comes from the Turkish word bayraklı ("with the flag"), which refers to the standard that was hoisted to its minaret to indicate the time of prayer to other mosques.

Visit. Flanked by a polygonal minaret of 24 m height, the building is distinguished by its Ottoman style known as "classical". The square prayer room (12 m on each side) is topped by a large dome (11.65 m in diameter) covered with lead plates and mounted on a hexagonal drum that reaches 13.5 m high. In the corners, four granite pillars ending in half-domes, themselves covered with lead, support the whole. The entrance is preceded by a porch with four pillars connected by arcades (now closed by a glass wall) and with three domes, also covered with lead. The interior has retained its shallow mihrab (niche that indicates the direction of Mecca) and its monumental marble minbar (pulpit used for the sermon of the great Friday prayer). Opposite, the kadınlar mahfili (women's platform) has been completely rebuilt. Like the dome and the outlines of the seventeen windows, it is decorated with colorful paintings that reproduce the vegetal motifs, geometric shapes as well as the verses of the Qur'an of the original decoration. Note the four half-domes in the corners which are decorated with fruits representing the four seasons. In the courtyard, facing the entrance, the fountain for ablutions is decorated with sculpted motifs (flowers, moon, stars) and inscriptions in Ottoman Turkish (written in Arabic characters). The adjoining garden contains the graves of two personalities of the city: Haxhi Zeka (1832-1902), founder of the Peja League, and Ali Pasha of Gusinje (1828-1888), one of the founders of the Prizren League.