Fethija mosque

The Fethija Mosque is a historic mosque in the city of Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was originally built in the Gothic style as a Catholic church dedicated to St Anthony of Padua. It is counted among the oldest Gothic buildings in the country and is one of the few examples in Europe of a Gothic church that became a mosque. The stone building has kept its Gothic rose window. The mosque holds the status of a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

A monastery stood beside the church and is mentioned in a 1266 charter of Croatian noblemen. Our record gives 1266 as the year of construction, although one source says the church was built during the 13th and 14th centuries.

After the Ottomans entered Bihać in 1592, the conversion of the town's churches into mosques was ordered. The Ottoman commander Hasan Pasha Predojević turned the Church of St Anthony into the town's main mosque, which was called the Mosque of the Conquest (Fethija). Some alterations were made, mainly to the windows, while the Gothic rose window was preserved. An Ottoman Turkish inscription at the base of the newly built minaret tells the building history of the present mosque.