(28 Sep 2020) LEAD IN:
Known for its unique design, Visoko's White Mosque gained global recognition over the years to become the city's favourite landmark.
Locals say they are proud of their house of worship as "a unique architectural masterpiece."
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Serefudin's White Mosque was unveiled in 1980, in the central Bosnian town of Visoko.
By then, local Muslims who had spent years fighting to secure a building permit for their new house of worship, considered it something of an eyesore.
Bosnia at that time was one of the six republics of the socialist Yugoslav federation, established following the end of World War II.
According to the mosque's current imam, Edin Bukva, "it was almost unimaginable that a new mosque or any other house of prayer could be built in any urban centre, any city" anywhere in the then communist state.
But Visoko Muslims refused to abandon their demand and, after 3 years of public pressure, authorities had "given (Bosnia's official) Islamic Community and Muslim worshipers an ultimatum: you can either build a modern mosque or no mosque at all," Bukva says.
Visoko Muslims agreed, if somewhat reluctantly.
Zlatko Ugljanin, one of Bosnia's leading modernist architects, was selected to design the mosque and over 90% of the cost of its construction was financed from public donations.
Building of the mosque complex, from concrete and mortar, limestone tiles and iron tubes, began in 1969 and took 11 years to complete.
"For local Muslims, the design of the White Mosque was foreign, they had a hard time accepting it because it looked like no other mosque they had ever seen or entered," Bukva says.
Over the years, however, as the striking, innovative building was gaining global recognition as a unique feat of modern socialist architecture, it became Visoko's favourite landmark.
In 1983, the mosque received the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture and in 2018 it has made an appearance in the New York Museum of Modern Art's exhibition "Toward a Concrete Utopia: Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948-1980" that explored the global reach of the "distinct yet multifaceted" Yugoslav socialist architecture.
Still, the mosque had found its place in the hearts of Visoko residents, not least because it is a major draw for tourists.
"Its atypical form is what attracts visitors; not just pious Muslims, but also architecture lovers," says Afan Abazovic, a professional Bosnian tour guide.
"It is an unusual mosque without a single straight wall, all of its walls are leaning at an angle. It is also among rare mosques that have skylights instead of windows," he explains, adding that the mosque's "Brutalist, that is, socialist" architecture is what makes it unique in global terms.
For their part, Visoko Muslims have learned to be proud of the unusual structure, the mosque's imam says.
"We want to add to its special character through its constant daily use, but we are also very proud of how it looks," Bukva adds.
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