The most glorious period in the history of Sarajevo, under Ottoman administration, was during the time Ghazi Husrev-beg held court while performing his duty as the Bosnian Sanjak-beg (1521-1541). With the exception of the military campaigns he had undertaken, Ghazi Husrev-beg devoted his entire life to the building and urbanisation of Sarajevo. Filled with noble love for the common good and progress of the people he was entrusted with, and from whom he descended, he unselfishly sacrificed his enormous wealth on building of magnificent structures for various purposes, which transformed Sarajevo of that period into the largest trading, craft, cultural, educational and military centre at the crossroads of East and West. With his architectural undertakings Ghazi Husrev-beg achieved lasting merit for the development of the city of Sarajevo, the cultural progress of the Muslims and the development of material culture of all inhabitants of these parts.
Knowing that his merits on the battlefield could only be preserved by history and that the only lasting hajrat (good deed) is that which repeats itself in the future, Husrev-beg endowed all his immovable and movable property.

• The mosque and the related activities,
• The madrasa and its activities in the field of education,
• The Haniqah (the Dervish School) and the ibadahs that are performed in the haniqah,
• Imare (the soup kitchen) and musafirhana (lodgings for the night or hostelry) and the manner in which it functioned.

The Ghazi Husrev-beg's Mosque, or as it is simply known among the people as the Beg's Mosque, as far as its design, shape and dimensions are concerned, represents a work of special interest for the study of Ottoman architecture in our parts. The mosque has a complex architectural rendition. The frontal part of the mosque is dominated by heavy marble pillars, which carry the arches of the mosque colonnade. These pillars separate the colonnade into five rectangular spaces of which every single one is vaulted by a dome. The main entrance into the mosque is beautifully adorned with stylised arabesques, wall ornamentation, gilding and marble.

Above the main mosque entrance there is stone tablet, 120 cm X 60 cm in size, on which verses in Arabic language are carved. The inscription is placed into six elliptical spaces edged on its sides and through the middle with arabesques. The inscription text is partly vocalised. The inscription surface is blue and the letters are gold plated.

If the numerical values of the Arabic letters in the last verse of the chronogram, written in beautiful calligraphy, are added, we get the year when the mosque was built. It is the year 938 according to Hijra, or 1530/31 A.D.

Once we enter the mosque the harmonious dimension of its space impresses us. Owing to the relation between its width and height, the builder of this mosque managed to achieve a strong impression of spatiality, which is enhanced by the carefully planned lighting. The central space of the mosque is a simple building structure, its width and length measuring 13 metres each, with its vertical profile reaching perfection. This central space is vaulted by a dome 26 metres in length, which means that the relation between the height and the base is 2 : 1. Below the dome is a spherical gallery with a wooden enclosure which, at one time, served for the purpose of lighting the countless number of the mosque lamps. The gallery can be reached by the stairs built into the massive stone wall whose thickness is two metres.

The mosque interior is covered with valuable rugs of which some are gifts of the heads of Islamic states who, during their stay in the capital city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also visited this mosque. All the parts of the mosque interior make up a harmonious whole which, with the mosque exterior and perfectly balanced proportion of the minaret, which is 45 metres in height, testify to the virtuosity of the architect who has created a work of lasting artistic value.

Five times a day, from the mosque minaret a voice of the muezzin calls the believers to prayer, and this call has been repeated daily from the year 1530/31 till today.

The turbets were restored in 1895 during the Austro-Hungarian administration and their interiors were decorated with the caligraphically written verses from the Qur'an. In the restoration that was performed in 2002 the interior was restored in accordance with the conditions from 1895.
In the middle of the great octagon turbet lies Ghazi's sarcophagus covered with a gold-embroided cover.

Ghazi Husrev-beg was born in 1480 in Serez (Aegean Macedonia) where his father served as a sanjak-beg - governor. His father, Ferhat-beg Hercegovic was a native of Trebinje, while his mother was a Turkish princess Seljukia, a daughter of Sultan Bajazid II, so that Ghazi Husrev-beg is of Bosnian descent.
In the Dubrovnik archive from 15 April 1483 the following is written:
"Prima pars est, de acceptando donum perperorum cca. 55, factum per minus consilium Radivoy, affini Perchat-beghi, generi imperatoris."
(The inhabitants of Dubrovnik present Radivoja, who is a cousin of Ferhat-beg - an imperial son-in law, with 55 perpers.)"

Ghazi Husrev-beg's coming to the seat of the Bosnian sanjak-beg in 1521 (with the exception of two short periods of absence, Ghazi Husrev-beg remained in Bosnia until his death in 1541) brought rapid economic progress to the city of Sarajevo. Ghazi Husrev-beg was an individual who embodied the virtues of a talented soldier and citizen; an emir (leader), a humanist and a builder. The title of ghazi or a hero, which was given to the outstanding Turkish soldiers and heroes for their military successes and bravery, he earned before his arrival in Bosnia. At the same time he was a grateful son of his homeland to which he gave his heart and his fortune.

With his testaments from 1531 and 1537, Ghazi Husrev-beg had endowed his entire fortune for the mosque, haniqah, imare (the soup kitchen), musafirhana, madrasa and the library. In a period of twenty years during which, as a Turkish governor, he governed Bosnia, Ghazi Husrev-beg had laid strong foundations to the future city of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which shortly following his death developed into the biggest city of the Ottoman Europe with the population of approximately 50,000.
Ghazi Husrev-beg's great achievements are truly impressive in their scope and purpose, for his endowments left their mark on the city of Sarajevo and stimulated the growth of this city and other regions for centuries.

His achievements include a magnificent mosque erected for the glory of the One in Whose love he lived and worked. Across the street he built his famous madrasa which, then and for a long time after, remained a unique and an exceptional school in the Balkans. At the same time Ghazi Husrev-beg built the famous library, which houses one of the richest collections of Near Eastern writings. Concurrently, all around Sarajevo of that time, emerging were other Husrev-beg's institutions and endowments of religious, educational, social and sanitary character. The great builder never overlooked the need for the accessibility of drinking water and he built a water supply system and brought in water from a spring seven kilometres from Sarajevo, channelling it into 40 public fountains. This was one of the first water supply systems in Europe of that time.

Also impressive is Ghazi Husrev-beg's Hamam from the first half of the 16th century, which is the last hamam in this city that has been preserved in its entirety. The hamam had parallel facilities and in each it had several sections; main entrances with the waiting rooms (the so-called shadirwans, under the great domes), rooms for bathing and sweating, spaces for keeping up fire and heating of water, and floor heating by using warm air.

Ghazi Husrev-beg went even further. He was well aware that economy is a lifeline of any city and region. The better the economy the quicker will the city blossom and develop. This is why Ghazi Husrev-beg kept investing into the city of Sarajevo. He built the famous Sarajevo Tashlihan - a great caravanserai (a meeting place of the rich merchant caravans which had been coming to this city from the East and the West for centuries). Ghazi Husrev-beg also built a bezistan (a roofed over market that housed the widest variety of textiles); numerous shops in which hundreds of skilled hands forged, sewed, did embroidery and traded. These things transformed Sarajevo into a noisy merchant and craft centre through which rich merchant caravans passed every day, bringing in and carrying away goods, raw material and finished products.

However, it seemed that Ghazi Husrev-beg still wasn't satisfied. In his famous madrasa, aside from religious subjects, one could freely discuss philosophy, poetry and ethics. Owing to this, seemingly unknown individuals read, studied and transcribed the most famous philosophical and other works. Today, their transcripts, journals and poetry can be found in Ghazi Husrev-beg's Library.
Such was the old Sarajevo in which Ghazi Husrev-beg laid the economic and spiritual foundations. A man of such intellect and noble spirit could not be any different towards the adherents of other faiths. His tolerance and his understanding reflected in his deeds.

The old Orthodox church in Sarajevo, only a few hundred steps from his monumental mosque, was built during his time.
At the same time the Franciscan monasteries near Sarajevo, in Visoko and Fojnica, were being restored, and in the Sarajevo neighbourhood of Latinluk, which is also in the immediate vicinity of Ghazi Husrev-beg's Mosque, stands a Catholic place of worship.

Above the entrance into the Ghazi Husrev-beg's Turbe there is a stone tablet 45 X 85 cm in size, on which an inscription in Arabic language is engraved.
The inscription is engraved into six elliptical spaces, edged with thick lines.

The year of Ghazi Husrev-beg's death is expressed in ebdzed (calculated using the numerical value of the Arabic letters) in the last half-verse. By adding the numerical values of the letters in the last half-verse we get the year 948 according to Hijra, which corresponds to year 1541-42 AD, and which is the year of Ghazi Husrev-beg's death.

Next to his turbe Ghazi Husrev-beg built a smaller turbe of hexagonal shape for Murat-beg Tardic. Murat-beg was a freed prisoner of war who embraced Islam. He was freed in accordance with the wishes of Ghazi Husrev-beg who appointed him his duke and cehaja (deputy).

Based on a chronicle which describes the military Dalmatia from 1536 we find out the following:

This Murat-beg, who was later decorated in a desperate battle near Gorjan, was, according to Istvanfy, from Sibenik, and in his youth he came into Turkish slavery and as a slave came to Ghazi Husrev-beg court where in time he was appointed duke…We have determined, from the above text, that this statement of his descent is trustworthy. We were also able to determine that Murat-beg had a brother in Sibenik, a priest by the name of Jurje Tardic, and this brother of his, as we were able to understand from a report by a Sibenik prince dated 30 May 1526, was a canon of a chapter house and had remained on brotherly terms with his brother Murat, at that time a gate-keeper of Ghazi Husrev-beg, since that same spring he was in Sarajevo paying him a visit, and it was his intention, as we had come to understand from that same report, to visit his brother again.

In 1528 Murat-beg conquered the fortified city of Jajce and in 1537 he did the same with the impregnable city of Klis and the entire Military Border in Croatia and Slavonia, when from the newly conquered territory the Klis sanjak was formed.

And that's how one of the most important strategic places on the coast of Adriatic Sea, tough (unconquerable) city of Klis, fell under Ottoman rule and later became the seat of the newly formed Klis sanjak in which, at the suggestion of Ghazi Husrev-beg, Murat-beg was appointed its first sanjak-beg and from that time was given the name of Gazi Murat, and to reward his bravery the Sultan himself, according to the historian Muvekkit, granted him the zijamet and Murat was given the title of beg.

After he became well known in the wars against the Venetian Republic and Austria, Murat-beg died in 1546 as the Sanjak-beg of Slavonia. His body was moved to Sarajevo and placed inside the smaller turbe.
According to the decrees from Ghazi Husrev-beg's testaments Murat-beg was appointed the first Mutawalli (Administrator) of Ghazi Husrev-beg's Waqf. In accordance with the same decrees each new Mutawalli is chosen from among the descendants of Murat-beg.

Above the entrance into Murat-beg's turbe is a stone table, 30 X 85 cm in size, with an inscription in Turkish language. The inscription is written in four elliptical spaces, edged by lines. The year of the chronogram is expressed in ebdzed with the words "Cani Murade rahmet", whose numerical value is equal to 952, which is the year Murat-beg died, according to hijra, and which corresponds to year 1545/46 AD.

The original shadirwan was built in 1530 from stone found in Bosnia. At that time this shadirwan was supplied with water from the Crnilo Spring located in Donje Biosko, distanced seven kilometres. The water from this spring was distributed through Sarajevo using a system of pipes made of baked clay. This old shadirwan was totally reconstructed after the original model in 1772.
Due to the cold Sarajevo winters and frequent freezing the reconstructed shadirwan was badly damaged, so that instead of the old one a new one was built in 1893 using the marble from the island of Brac in Dalmatia. The three damaged troughs of the old shadirwan can be seen next to the mosque courtyard entrance on the west side. Architecturally, the present-day shadirwan is identical to the one in front of the Ulu Mosque in Bursa. During the last reconstruction, the shadirwan was connected to the modern water system.
During the aggression on this city the wooden roof was damaged so badly that it could not be restored. For this reason, in 1997 a new roof was built, identical to the old one. Immediately below the wooden roof a calligraphically written quote form the Qur'an was added, whose translation is as follows:

This same quote is written on each of the eight sides that support the roof frame, but using a different style of Arabic script each time. During 2002 the shadirwan was restored in its entirety. It was taken apart and the water system installations were replaced since most of the pipes were damaged during the savage shelling of this mosque. Everything was done to bring the shadirwan to its earlier condition and functionality, so that today we can once again use it and see it in all of its splendour and beauty.

By assigning numerical value to the Arabic letters used in the last distich we get the year the madrasa was built in - 1537 AD.
When one enters its atrium, many interesting details attract the attention of the visitor; the gracious symmetrical domes and the pointed chimneys, and a colonnade of pillars of exceptional beauty. Around the atrium are the rooms inside which softas (students) of the madrasa resided, and opposite the main entrance is a dershana (the great lecture hall). In the middle of the atrium is a small water fountain that harmoniously fits into the peaceful surroundings with which it creates an impressive architectural whole.

At one time Ghazi Husrev-beg's Madrasa was an educational institution that was in a class by itself in the Balkans and was second to none from here to Istanbul. It is for this reason that Kurshumli Madrasa can be rightly considered the forerunner of today's University of Sarajevo, and especially the Faculty of Islamic Studies and the Faculty of Law.

Mehmed Spaho, a PhD in legal studies, was the president of the Yugoslavian Muslim Association and the Minister of Transportation in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
On the headstone, with a tarboosh, two inscriptions are engraved on both sides in Arabic language, while on the tombstone by his feet, an inscription is engraved in Bosnian language and in Latin alphabet.
The text of the inscription, engraved in 18 slanted lines on the face of the headstone is as follows:

Translation from Bosnian:
Muhamed Pasanbegovic