The minaret
About 42 m, rebuilt taller after 1911.
Desemeus — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Julian Nyča — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Thornjak — CC0 · Ziegler175 — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Julian Nyča — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Husein Pasha Mosque in the centre of Pljevlja, northern Montenegro, is among the country's finest Ottoman monuments. Built of finely dressed stone, it has a square prayer hall under a single dome on a high drum, a porch with three small domes and a minaret of about 42 metres, one of the tallest in the Balkans. It has been protected since 1961. Its founder, Husein Pasha Boljanić, was born in nearby Boljanići and later governed several Ottoman provinces, from Bosnia to Egypt. Montenegro's Islamic Community dates the mosque to 1569 and marked its 450th anniversary in 2019; others place it between 1585 and 1594. Lightning struck the first minaret in 1911, and a slimmer, taller one replaced it. The mosque keeps a manuscript Quran the founder commissioned, which local sources date to 1579, with 352 illuminations on a gold ground. Inside, polychrome floral ornament and Quranic verses cover the walls, and the mihrab, minbar and gallery are worked with muqarnas; 25 windows light the hall. A restoration in 2006–2007, eight months of it on the painted decoration, preserved its appearance. The town's clock tower, 28 metres tall by local accounts, stands in the courtyard. Pljevlja is about 60 km from Žabljak by road over the Đurđevića Tara Bridge, roughly 1 to 1.5 hours' drive, longer in winter snow, so check conditions first. Combine it with a stop at the bridge; the Black Lake is 62 km away by road. Allow 20 to 45 minutes, and come just after a prayer, as the doors may be locked in between.
About 42 m, rebuilt taller after 1911.
Floral ornament and Quranic verses.
In the courtyard, about 30 m away.
Kralja Petra I street, by the clock tower, Pljevlja town centre
Its builder is not recorded with certainty, but some art historians attribute the plan to Mimar Hayruddin, architect of Mostar's Old Bridge, on the strength of its proportions, rich decoration and unusually tall drum.
A hair believed to be from the Prophet Muhammad's beard is put on show, the only night of the year it is displayed; several thousand worshippers come from Pljevlja and nearby towns, including some in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.