(8 Jul 2014) After seven years of reconstruction and rebuilding, the Ferhadija Mosque is finally nearing completion.
Its towers and minarets glow under the glorious sunshine.
Only construction materials outside the building mar the view and hint at the current reconstruction work going on inside the mosque.
The elegant 16th century structure, destroyed by Serbs during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, has almost been restored to its former glory which had previously earned it recognition as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1950.
Workers are now engaged in restoring the mosque's interior, a task they hope to complete in time for Eid Al Fitr holiday on July 28.
The mosque had been rebuilt using new and old techniques, including integrating original stonework - retrieved from Banja Luka's main municipal rubbish dump.
The stonework was found after being buried for several years under rubbish and the waters of Banja Luka's municipal reservoir.
The mosque's principal imam, Muris Spahic, is thrilled with the work but says it brings back good as well as painful memories for many in the town.
"After the scaffolding was removed, the minaret built and the minaret lights switched on, it awakened special feelings in people and not just Muslims," says Spahic.
"Others who spent part of their youth in this city remembered the Ferhadija Mosque and how they strolled down the streets around it. It brought back memories, both those that were beautiful and others not so beautiful."
Spahic feels the mosque has a special place in the hearts of Banja Luka's non-Muslims since the area outside its gates has been a principal meeting point and the surrounding streets the hub of the city's social life for centuries.
The war in 1992-95 saw conflicts between and amongst the country's Muslim Bosniaks, Christian Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats.
Although Banja Luka saw little combat during the war, all 16 mosques in the city were destroyed.
One of the city's residents, 90-year-old Zaim Badjar, remembers the events leading to the attack on Ferhadija.
"I was in the mosque for the Maghrib (sunset) prayer and when I came out there were three young men walking around the mosque and I heard one of them say: 'if it does not rain tonight we will do away with this mosque' and that is how it was."
He goes on to add his joy in the reconstruction project.
"But now I feel wonderful, I am very happy. Thank God we survived to see this."
Banja Luka's Muslims and Croats, who made up about 30 percent of the city's pre-war population, left during and after the war.
Years later, in 2001 the first attempted reconstruction of the Ferhadija triggered riots.
Hundreds of Bosnian Serbs broke through a police line and attacked international and Muslim officials who had gathered for a ceremony to mark the reconstruction project of the historic mosque.
Before the ceremony began, more than a thousand Serbs gathered across the street from the site where the cornerstone of the Fehadija mosque was to be laid.
The crowd threw stones, eggs and firecrackers over the heads of police, who were trying to protect around a thousand Muslims who had lived in the city and had come to attend the ceremony.
One stone destroyed the windshield of the car belonging to Bosnia's foreign minister moments after he arrived.
The Serbs broke through the police cordon, beat visitors and set their prayer rugs on fire.
Several international officials were trapped in the Islamic community centre as the crowd mobbed the building and broke its windows.
A US helicopter, which attempted to evacuate the officials, was prevented from landing by the mob.
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