THE KARADJA PASHA MOSQUE – GOTSE DELCHEV

In the 1480-1490s a mosque with a large dome and a Muslim school were opened in Gotse Delchev.

This mosque is the only Ottoman architectural monument in the city surviving till now. Karaja Pasha Mosque is a former Muslim prayer house with a cultural monument status. The main building of the mosque is hexagonal. The dome is standing over the six sides, and on the right side the mosque is the minaret. The mosque has undergone three reconstructions, the last of them in the 17th century. Many elements from the destroyed by the Turks Christian complex around the Early Christian Basilica of St. Nicholas were used during the construction of the mosque. Foundings from the Basilica were discovered by the archaeologists at the foundations of the mosque. During the Ottoman rule, the basilica was demolished and the Mehmed Bey mosque was built on it. Today, the mosque is in ruins, in January 2011 colapsed its dome.