The mosque in Pristina, with modern or classical Ottoman architecture?

The controversy in public debates about this mosque, made this week, has never questioned the need for mosque construction, but the urban plan and mosque architecture.

The mosque architecture, according to the architect of the Islamic Community of Kosovo (BIK), Esat Ramadani is classical Ottoman architecture.

“Giamia is a classic Ottoman architecture, the model of Mimar Sinan's masterpiece, but that even though it's in a classic form, will function as a very modern” object, Ramadani said in presenting the project he had made days before Pristina municipality's atomicists.

However, field experts consider that mistakes have been made during the process of selecting the design of this mosque and setting construction conditions.

Valdet Osmani from the Association of architects of Kosovo, in a proposal for Radio Free Europe, says that if the selection procedures for the mosque project were different, you would have been able to resolve a project with other architecture rather than the current one.

According to him, this glass would have to have modern architecture, and toʹti fits even the time when it is built.

“If this whole process were otherwise organised, and the Pristina municipality toʹte the conditions and criteria for which object the permit would be issued, I believe that if these criteria were defined by the Community, it would have won a project with a glass with modern architecture that would also meet the financial criteria and it would be an object that can be maintained in the future more easily and at a affordable cost<1>, Osmani points out.

In the absence of setting these criteria, Osmani adds, these contradictions about the project have also been presented, and the project has dragged on for years.

The stone for the construction of this mosque, as one of the largest religious sites of Islamic faith in Kosovo, was set in October 2012.

Kosovo Builders' Association Chairman Brahim Selimaj, procrastination for the central mosque construction project in Pristina, considers them unreasonable.

He tells Radio Free Europe that a consensus should be found and all these problems overcome, as according to him, the mosque construction project is needed and must be finalised.

“As far as the size, type and location of the mosque should be discussed. I think these years that have passed, they're lost years that don't need to crawl, the project needs to become a conflict of planning and urban laws. It's a big mistake that the mosque case has dragged on so long. We need to find an appropriate opportunity, whether from the project or the location and that glass to start building”, Brahimaj points out.

Brahimaj calls on competent authorities for the mosque project to receive the assessment of field experts and to start construction.

The architecture of the mosque project has also been rejected by a group of citizens through social networks.

The location where the mosque is expected to be built, as well as the municipal Assembly asavists, was considered to be in the wrong place and insufficient space for such an object.

Location to build central mosque in Pristina

Location to build central mosque in Pristina

But for architect Valdet Osmani, space and country meets the conditions for the current mosque project.

Religious activities in every country of the world are located in various locations. If the mosque was to have guardian infrastructure, such as colleges or dormitories for students, it would have to be built somewhere in the suburbs, where space opportunities are greater. But, in the case of the mosque in Pristina, it is only central and will not have these escort objects, so the location and parcels meet the criteria and conditions”, Osmani points out.

81 projects were presented for construction of the mosque in the capital.

Construction of the mosque will be financed and built by the Turkish Islamic Community, at a total cost of about 40m euros.

Within the framework of the project, near the mosque, building the yard, parking lot, conference halls, library, administrative office, two bedrooms, labs, as well as shops. / REL