Hundreds of people visited “Banya Bashi” mosque in the capital within the European Heritage Days 2018 

The present year, 2018, is announced for European Year of Cultural Heritage and September 15 and 16 this year (Saturday and Sunday) in Sofia were marked the European Heritage Days 2018. The initiative is traditionally held every year during September and is at European level.

During the past two days the initiative was held in more than 50 European countries and in Sofia the event was organized by the French Institute in Bulgaria in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and the Sofia Municipality. The motto of the days this year was “The Art of Sharing” and the aim of the organizers – to focus on the cultural heritage, bringing the public attention to the cultural sites around us.

The Program of the European Heritage Days 2018 in the capital included the opportunity to visit 39 buildings in total of a great cultural value, and one of them was “Banya Bashi” mosque in Sofia. Nearly 1000 people took the opportunity to visit the Muslim temple in the capital within the two-day event.

Visitors in the “Banya Bashi” mosque during the European Heritage Days 2018

“Like the previous year, this year also during the European Heritage Days there was a great interest towards the “Banya Bashi” mosque. Indeed many people visited the temple both on Saturday and on Sunday. They were coming alone or with friends, there were families with their children… They were curious to learn about information of different nature – they asked questions related most often to the history of the mosque and its architecture, with the meaning of the different elements from the interior. They were also interested in certain religious decrees in Islam” – shared for Grandmufti.bg the guide of the central mosque of Sofia “Banya Bashi” Emine Sechkina, and added that she personally finds such initiatives very useful and contributing to the better intercultural understanding. 

The mosque “Banya Bashi” in the center of Sofia is open to tourists or just to be visited by interested visitors from the city throughout the year, at any time, excluding the times just before and after the five-time prayers, in order to avoid crowding. In addition to this, excluding Thursday and Sunday, a guided tour is offered between 10:00 and 16:00 o’clock.

Author L. Chauhseva