The 16th century was a golden age in the development of Sarajevo, owing particularly to the appearance of Ghazi Husrev Bey, the most important Bosnian governor of the time. By setting up his endowments, he turned Sarajevo into a large town (seher), known all around Europe. Although the Begova Mosque is the most important and most striking work of architecture among his endowments, they all possess great value, not solely in terms of construction, but also when speaking of their roles in a complex system of the city centre, which have marked important city functions for centuries.
The Ghazi Husrev Bey Mosque in Sarajevo, built in 1530/1531, presents a more mature realisation of the Islamic architecture and, in terms of space, the most complex and the largest mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mosque is proportioned so that the cube of the building is made prominent in terms of height, and the domes of the flank areas and porch are considerably lower, which was made based on the principle of an equilateral triangle. The structural arrangement of this mosque is more complex and daring in comparison to other mosques. The decoration of the pendantives, the doorways, the mihrab, the minbar and the mahfil was made with great knowledge of the style. A specific feature is a strong minaret that cannot be seen anywhere else in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the characteristics of the early Constantinople school.
The architect of this mosque is unknown and since, in terms of style, it is a very valuable structure, built in the first phase of the Ottoman architecture in Bosnia, it is certain that this mosque was not built by a local architect. It is assumed that it was someone from Hajrudin’s school of architecture since, in the time when it was built, the architecture of the Ottoman Empire was marked by the school of mimar Hajrudin, the great Sinan’s predecessor and architect of the Old Bridge in Mostar.

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