The oldest mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina? A history torn between tradition and paper

In a land where rivers flow like veins connecting epochs, and mosques rise as silent witnesses to time, the question of which is the oldest mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not merely a matter of a date etched in stone or inked in a document. It is a question of memory, tradition, and identity — and, as is often the case in these parts, the answer depends on whom you ask.

Two mosques, two towns, two histories. One by the Miljacka, the other above the Drina. One is deeply rooted in Ottoman records, the other in the collective memory of the people. And both are stubbornly the oldest.

Emperor’s Mosque in Sarajevo, Photo: fotokon Depositphotos

THE IMPERIAL MOSQUE IN SARAJEVO

At the very spot where Isa-bey Ishaković chose to plant the roots of what would become Sarajevo, he also built what is now considered the first monumental trace of Islam in Bosnia — the  Emperor’s Mosque, also known as the Mosque of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror. Originally constructed in wood around 1457, its existence is first confirmed in written form in 1462, in Isa-bey’s vakufnama — a document so significant that some call it Sarajevo’s “birth certificate.”

It did not remain untouched. Fires and wars brought it down more than once, but each time it rose again, more magnificent than before. Its current form dates to the 1566 reconstruction, when Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent decided to leave an imperial mark upon Sarajevo.

The history here is clear, concrete, and documented. Yet within that clarity lies a question: is a written record enough to define age? Is antiquity measured only by what survives on paper?

Emperor’s Mosque in Sarajevo, Photo: fotokon Depositphotos

TURHAN EMIN-BEY MOSQUE IN USTIKOLINA

Far from capitals and calligraphic records, by the quiet flow of the Drina River and the shadows of Bosnian mountains, stands a mosque in Ustikolina that locals claim is older than any other. The year they cite? 1448.

There is no vakufnama, no inscription in stone. There is only a story — but one that echoes through centuries, passed down from generation to generation. There is a foundation stone, and there is the memory that faith took root here while the rest of the land was still in transition.

The irony lies in the name: Turhan Emin-bey, after whom the mosque is known today, reportedly died in the 1560s, according to Ottoman sources. Did he truly build the mosque? Or did he simply leave his mark on something that had already existed before him? No one can say for certain — and perhaps no one ever will.

What we do know is that the mosque has been destroyed multiple times, most recently rebuilt in the mid-20th century. And for the people of this region, its date is not a number — it’s a matter of pride.

HISTORY BETWEEN THE DRINA AND THE MILJACKA

And so, the story of the oldest mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot be told in absolutes. If you believe in archives, decrees, and imperial documents, your answer will point to the Emperor’s Mosque. If you believe in the memory of the people, you’ll look toward Ustikolina.

The truth may not lie fully on either side, or perhaps it lies in the space between. The oldest mosque in Bosnia and Herzegovina might not be a single structure in a single place, but rather a layered story of empire, faith, and people between the Drina and the Miljacka.