KIRAETHANA MOSQUE, BEGLUCI
Kiraethana Mosque complex is situated in a scarcely inhabited village Begluci in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with majority of Bosniak/Muslim people, lacking adequate cultural and sacral spaces.
This project started in 2014 and opened in 2022 represents a rebirth of a 200-year-old islamic tradition on this site where the previously existing Mosque was demolished in 1992, reconstructed in 1998 with a donation from abroad that was poorly executed technically and spatially.
It was a missed opportunity for the only community building in that area. In 2014 it occurred to one of the community members, Mr. Vahid Ibrić, whose grandfather was the Imam, that the Mosque could be reconstructed with additional value to contribute to gathering and bringing the community of Begluci village together.
Corresponding with the visitors’ sequence, there are suitable writings carrying messages. Firstly, inscribed in stone above the entrance (Tarih) is Iqra Bismi Rabbika Surah in Arabic and Bosnian (Read! In the Name of Your Lord…), suggesting the program content of Kiraethana. The expansion of the Surah is written in Bosnian on the opposing wall. Finally, Surah Al-‘Alaq crowns the prayer hall, inscribed along the edge of the interior walls.(3)