Lecture on the topic “The mosque of Ibrahim Pasha and “Ibrahim Pasha” mosque in Razgrad” took place

On 18^th of October, Wednesday, in the Media and Culture Center at Grand Mufti’s Office took place the lecture of Prof. Lyubomir Mikov “The mosque of Ibrahim Pasha and “Ibrahim Pasha” mosque in Razgrad”.

The event is part of the initiative “Mosques’ Week” which Grand Mufti’s Office organizes every year during October.

During the lecture Prof. Mikov shared that he had been observing the mosque for 25 years, he permanently followed the literature related to it and “yet, after I felt sufficiently prepared I began working on this work”, said the author.

The name Ibrahim Pasha is one of the most famous names among the great figures from the Era of the Ottoman Empire. But as being famous to everyone, he is also so “unknown”. It is not known where the grave of Ibrahim Pasha is, said Prof. Lyubomir Mikov. It is not known where the grave of the Grand Vizier of Suleiman the Magnificent is, also wondered the participants in the lecture.

And the mosque in Razgrad which is named after him? What is known about it? Exactly on these questions Prof. Milkov dedicated 25 years of his life. During his research he found the document from year 1533 with which was established the waqf of Ibrahim Pasha in Razgrad. It became known from it that in 1533 Ibrahim Pasha built a mosque in the village of Yenidzhe, which after building the temple turned into a town and after some years got the name of Razgrad.

But in 1599 the mosque disappeared, and all documents related to it also disappeared. No one can answer what are the reasons for this. According to some researchers most probably the reason for the mosque to disappear is an earthquake, “but this is not possible, because if there had been an earthquake the hamam just opposite the mosque would also been destroyed” says Prof. Lyubomir Mikov.

At the place of the mosque, built by Ibrahim Pasha in 1616 – 1617 (81 years after the death of Vizier Ibrahim Pasha, who was killed in 1536) was built a new mosque which is named after Ibrahim Pasha, because it was constructed on a land from the waqf of Ibrahim Pasha.

Yuzlem Tefikova