Mustafa pasina dzamija, Skopje, Republika Makedonija

Situated at an elevation that as a terrace overviews the Old Skopje Bazaar, across the Skopje Fortress, the Mustapha Pasha's mosque is not unique only for its exceptional location, but for its elegant beauty that makes it one of the most impressive and most magnificent edifices of the Islamic sacred architecture in Macedonia.
	Mustafa-pasha mosque, 15th century

It was built towards the end of the 15^th century, in 1492, by the Skopje commander Mustapha Pasha, a renowned person from the times of the Sultans Bayazit II and Selim I. The data about its building we find in the inscription in prose in the Arabic language that is placed over the entrance to the mosque. It reads: "The benefactor has erected the mosque for prayers, for Allah to enlighten the place in its tomb. When finishing (the building) I said the chronogram: Let the just increase the reputation of the benefactor Mustapha, son of Abdulah. Written at the beginning of Moharrem in the year 898 (21 - 23 November 1492).

Who was Mustapha pasha? About his life and times, we learn from several sources, such as the inscription at the entrance to the mosque, vakafname on its bequest that is dated in 1514, the inscription on its tomb (turbe) and two other documents, but they all provide only meager answers. We find out that he had been a son of Abdulah (Abdulkerim), that he performed high state functions in the Osman (Ottoman) state, that he possessed a vast property in Rumelia and four villages in the vicinity of Skopje: Bulacani, Batinci, Rastak and Cresevo; he has had two wives, both named Hurshid and four daughters - Hani, Umi, Shah Zeman and Huma. In Skopje, with his own funds, he has built a mosque and a mesdzid, and within the mosque and imaret and living quarters for the priests. He had died in 1519. Evlya Celebya, in his itinerary journal, has noted the existence of a medresa (religious school) of Mustapha Pasha in Skopje.

Today the complex of the Mustapha pasha's mosque is comprised of the mosque, the tomb of Mustapha pasha, the sarcophagus of his daughter Umi, the sadrvan (fountain), and remnants can be observed that are presumed to be left from the former imaret and medresa.

The mosque is a smart building that is built by alternative layering of processed stone and two layers of bricks. The space for prayers is of a square basis and, above it, through pendentives, continues a twelve-sided tambour with a dome which' diameter is about 16 meters.

The open porch (sofa) built in front of the central part of the mosque is an aesthetic and outstanding contrast to the closed mosque. It is positioned on four marble pillars and covered by three small domes. The pillars are decorated by stalactite decorations that are a typical mark of the classical period in the Ottoman architecture.

When building the mosque, special attention was paid to the design of the portal that overwhelms with its beauty and refined look. It is about 10 meters high and is made with two domes, in between which is now the inscription that contains the data about the building of the mosque, and on the very top of the portal there is a marble decoration.

The entrance wings are made of wood and ornamented in their entire surface using a special technique. On the upper parts of the wings, in secluded square fields, texts from the Koran can be read, written in an interesting way and with beautiful typeface, which speaks of the high level of development and usage of the calligraphy as a decorative motif in the Islamic culture.

The interior of the mosque, with its beauty, does not lag behind its exterior. The decorations, the calligraphic inscriptions, the refined lines of the objects complement the impression about the exclusivity of this object.

The minaret made of limestone, that is vertically elevated besides the right front corner of the mosque, is surrounded by a gallery in its upper part (serefe) which is the place where the muezin calls the faithful to a prayer. This protruded part is made of marble and is ornamented, and the plates are decorated with six-ray and round rosettes.

By the northeastern wall of the mosque, in a six-sided closed turbe, padded with marble from the outside and with an elevated dome above a short eight-sided tambour, is buried the builder Mustapha - pasha. In its middle is the sarcophagus ornamented with vegetative motifs. During the devastating Skopje earthquake in 1963, the tomb cracked in several places, and, inter alia, the plate with the inscription has fallen. The inscription reads (in Arabic): "A man, Moustapha pasha has died who needs the mercy of the All-merciful master, may Allah make easy his entry into the Heaven and achievement of the pleasure by Lord. Year 925 (1519 according to our calendar)." Ever since the earthquake, the wooden coffin, the turban and the green cloth are missing.

To the south from the mosque is the sarcophagus where Umi, one of the daughters of Mustapha pasha was buried. The sarcophagus is richly decorated in all its four sides, where vegetative motifs, while on the two broader sides, in Persian language, the verses are carved:

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