New carpet for Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque: Expensive rug, a gift from the Iranian king, a symbol of Sarajevo, goes to the museum

The rug gifted to Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in 1965 by Habib Bourguiba, then President of Tunisia, is going to the museum. The rug from Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, a gift from the then President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser, delivered to Sarajevo in 1968, as well as one of the most valuable rugs in this mosque, a gift from the former Iranian king Reza Pahlavi, will also go to the museum, reports the BH news agency Patria.

Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque is one of the symbols of Sarajevo and one of the most significant monuments of sacral Islamic architecture in the Balkans. The mosque was built in 1530 and is a endowment of Gazi Husrev-beg, the ruler of the Bosnian Sanjak at that time. It was designed by Ajem Esir Ali from Tabriz, one of the greatest architects of Istanbul, and built by renowned masters from Dubrovnik.

The carpet in this cultural monument was last systematically replaced during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, in Sarajevo, on Tuesday, at the Gazi Husrev-beg Library, the new design of the carpet was presented, which will be installed by the summer of next year, before the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims worldwide fast.

The conceptual design of the new carpet was created by architect Husein Dropić, together with a team of experts from the "Ambijent" studio.

The new carpet, which will be uniform throughout the mosque, will feature motifs from the tradition of Bosnian carpets and old Bosnian embroidery. A leaf symbolizing the brevity of human life is also depicted on the carpet.

The total area of the new single-piece carpet is about 400 square meters. The museum, which will house the permanent exhibition of carpets from Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque, will be opened in Morića Han in Sarajevo, reports Patria.