Kodzha Kadi Mosque (Bitola)

 mosque, interesting place, listed building / architectural heritage, 16th century construction

The mosque was erected in the year of Hicra 936 or 1529 AD. It was registered in the Land Survey register (Tapu Defter) of 1203 AH / 1799AD. Following his appointment as a judge in the town of Manastır, the Kadı Ahmed Efendi decided to build a mosque and medrese. For the maintenance of the small mosque complex he made a pious endowment. Over the centuries, nothing was left of the vakıf, due to the maladministration of the trustees (mütevelli). The famous medrese that once stood as part of the complex was four times renovated, and according to the Salname statistical data from the beginnings of the 20th century, had by then ceased to exist. The mosque had a graveyard (Mezarlık) on the south-west, which comprised a few tombs of local scholars and dervishes: şeyh Efgani Mehmed Efendi, Hacı Ibrahim Efendi, Hafız Ali and others. From the whole complex only the mosque is left, and it is in a much-altered state, since for a long period of time it has been used as a dwelling.
There might be a historical connection between the house and the mosque, and the nearby Yeni bath, which served the local Muslim community. The modest mosque has a simple rectangular prayer room, 8.80 m. by 8.50 m., covered by a hipped roof. The masonry of the walls is a good Cloisonné work, formed of layers of two horizontally placed bricks, around the cut block of stone. The wall thickness is around 90 cm. On the mihrab side there exist two large marble-framed and iron-grilled windows with three smaller arched windows on the upper side of the wall. At the front on the northwestern side, where the main entrance is located, a simple arched alcove for the latecomers was added. The polygonal stone minaret is attached on the southwestern corner of the prayer hall and its entrance is through the mosque interior. The upper minaret body and its stalactite brick şerefe balcony are partly ruined. The interior of the prayer hall was damaged by the dwellers a long time ago, except for some remnants of the colored mihrab niche in stucco and the flat wooden ceiling (şişe tavan). The main entrance door that was decorated with woodcarvings disappeared a long time ago. There are some similarities with the mosque of Egrikaş Efendi that was once situated in the vicinity. But, the most remarkable similarity can be found in the Iskender Paşa Cami of 1559-1560 in Kanlica on the Bosphorus, designed by Mimar Sinan.