A renovated Sultan Mehmed Fatih – Emperor’s Mosque in Kotor Varos will officially open today.
Coming to the event and speaking will be the Reis Ul-Ulema Husein ef Kavazovic, Mufti of Banja Luka, Osman ef Kozlic, as well as the director of the Waqf Directorate, Senaid Zaimovic.
Sultan Mehmed Fatih – Emperor’s Mosque, in Kotor Varos was built in 16th century near the medieval town of Kotor and the fortress of Hrvoje Vukcic Hrvatinic, next to the river mouth of Jakotina to Vrbanja near the old market of the town of Kotor-Varos. It is one of the oldest mosques of the Banja Luka Mufti office, and the oldest mosque of the Majlis of the Islamic Community of Kotor-Varos.
Before its demolition in the last war, it was a fully-functioning mosque. In June 1992, it experienced the fate of the other eleven mosques of Kotor Varos; it was mined and burned.
The return of Bosniaks to Kotor Varos has prompted the clean-up of the ruins and the reconstruction of the demolished mosques. After 2001, due to the lack of funds for the building of djemat (mosques), reconstruction work of this mosque were not intensified until the 13th of November 2013, when the Waqif from Kuwait, Salih Al-Hanna, who gave the most of funds for its reconstruction, contacted with authorities.
(Source: faktor.ba)