Mustapha - Pasha mosque
To the east of the main entrance to the Fort Kale in Skopje, rises the Mustafa Pasha Mosque, built on an earlier Christian cult location. According to the marble plate with an Arabic inscription, the mosque, as Mustapha Pasha's memorial, was built in 1492. Mustapha - Pasha himself, a prominent citizen of the Ottoman Empire, had significant functions. He owned large estates in Rumelia, and as a vizier of Sultan Selim was the first to be awarded four villages in the region of Skopje. He died in 1519 and was buried in the turbeh (burial chamber), located next to the mosque's north-east wall.
The mosque's ground-plan is a simple square vaulted with a dome raised on columns. In the interior's south-eastern section are the mihrab and the mimbar, ornamented with plastic marble decoration. Above the entrance door, in the interior, is the gallery - mehvil, for the service of the muezzins. The mosque is entered through a portico with four marble columns covered with three small domes. It was built of successive rows of cut stones and two rows of bricks.
The minaret was built of chiseled limestone, which is a shade paler than the one used for the mosque. The minaret's extended section is made of marble and ornamented. The squint arches are ornamented by round and sixfold rosettes.
The mosque was not seriously damaged in the disastrous 1963 earthquake. Nevertheless, some conservatory activities were undertaken.
