Ottoman mosque · 1506 · largest dome
Bitola's largest mosque, built in 1506 by the judge Ishak Çelebi, with a minaret of about 45 m beside the Dragor river.
These are the stories you can open in the 3D view, each at its own numbered point on the model.
This is the Isak Mosque, also known as the Ishak Çelebi or İshakiye Mosque. It was founded by İshak Çelebi, who served as kadi, the Ottoman judge, of Manastır and later of Selanik, today Thessaloniki.
Its inscription gives the year 912 of the Hijri calendar, which is 1506, while the deed of its foundation is dated 1508. The Bitola museum uses 1506.
The lead dome, about 14.5 m across, is the largest in Bitola. It rests on a twelve-sided drum with one pointed window in each face, so a ring of daylight runs around the foot of the dome.
In the 17th century the traveller Evliya Çelebi already noted that this was the largest mosque in the town.
Look closely at the walls. Each block of stone is framed by thin red bricks, laid in double rows between the courses and upright between the stones. This way of building is known as cloisonné masonry.
The square hall measures about 18 m on each side and has three rows of windows, with the drum windows above them.
The minaret is built of cut stone and rises about 45 m on the south-west side of the hall. Its balcony, the şerefe, rests on three rows of muqarnas, the carved, stalactite-like corbels of Islamic architecture.
Above the balcony the shaft narrows and ends in a tall lead cone with a crescent finial.
The mosque was once the heart of a larger foundation, a külliye, with a madrasa (a school), an imaret (a public kitchen) and a guest house. Only the mosque survives; the madrasa was demolished after 1945.
The foundation was wealthy. Its endowment owned 103 shops and 20 water mills, whose income supported the complex.
Today the entrance is sheltered by a closed porch under a pitched tile roof, with windows and a central door.
It probably looked different at first. Researchers think the original was an open portico roofed with five small domes. The present porch is a later change.
Records mention repairs in 1890, 1910, 1947 and 1959. Around 2015 the mosque was restored with the help of TIKA, the Turkish cooperation agency, which worked on several Ottoman-era mosques in the Balkans at that time.
It is in use as a mosque, so if you go inside, dress modestly and avoid the times of prayer.
The mosque stands on the north bank of the Dragor, the small river that runs through the centre of Bitola. Across the water, about 140 m to the south, rises the Clock Tower, and to its left the minaret of the Yeni Mosque.
On clear days the snowy ridge of Baba Mountain, with Pelister, closes the view to the west.
Typical prices are our estimates for orientation, not menu prices. Check opening hours on the spot.
Walk around the model, switch between day and night, and hear each story read aloud in English, Macedonian or Turkish.
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