Sinan's dome
The sultanate's most famous architect โ columnless.
xiquinhosilva from Cacau โ CC BY 2.0 ยท MrPanyGoff โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Bin im Garten โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Bin im Garten โ CC BY-SA 3.0
After liberation from Ottoman rule (1878) most mosques were demolished or converted to churches, museums and warehouses as part of reshaping the new national city identity โ some barely survived (the Sofia mosque became today's National Archaeological Museum) while most vanished entirely by the mid-twentieth century, leaving Banya Bashi the sole working witness to five centuries of Ottoman architectural history in the capital.
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Banya Bashi is the sole remaining working mosque in Sofia from nearly seventy Ottoman mosques the Turkish rule built over five centuries โ its design (1576) a single massive dome without interior columns, attributed to the sultanate's most famous architect, Mimar Sinan himself, designer of Istanbul's great mosques, making it a rare architectural gem outside Turkey. Its name (the Pasha's Bath) traces to its site above a natural hot mineral spring still flowing today โ the free public taps surrounding the mosque directly (locals visit daily to fill bottles) stand as living witness to this rare thermal origin for a European city. It stands mere steps from Sofia's central synagogue, the Orthodox St. Nedelya church, and the mosque itself โ a four-faith intersection in one small square locals call the square of religious tolerance, a symbolism the city officially takes pride in.
The sultanate's most famous architect โ columnless.
Mosque, synagogue and church in one square.
Ploshtad Banski, 1000 Sofia