The story of Mosque Sulejmanija (Travnik)

Šarena means colourful, and this mosque earned its nickname from the unusual painted decoration on its inner and outer walls, added when it was rebuilt in 1816. Its story has several layers. In 1757 the vizier Ćamil Ahmed-aga built a mosque here that locals called the Ćamilija. It burned down in 1815, and the Bosnian vizier Sulejman-paša Skopljak raised a new one, which is why it is also called the Sulejmanija.

Now look at the ground floor: beneath the mosque lies a stone bezistan, a covered market that once held 10 shops. One building serving both worship and trade makes it a unique example in Ottoman architecture. Notice too that the minaret stands on the left rather than the usual right, perhaps because the ground on the other side was damp and unstable; it may even be older than the mosque itself.

Over time the paintings vanished under whitewash, and the original decoration was rediscovered only in 1992.