The Gazi Husrev-beg Museum to open in Sarajevo in 2015

The new Museum will be located in the KurÅ¡umli madrasa, a 16th century historic building in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Photo above: KurÅ¡umli madrasa in Sarajevo / Photo Â© Islamic Arts Magazine

The Islamic Community in BiH and the Gazi Husrev-beg Waqf are proud to announce that the new Gazi Husrev-beg Museum will be located in the KurÅ¡umli madrasa, built in 16th century in Sarajevo by Gazi Husrev-beg. The opening of the Museum is expected in 2015.

The guests on the press conference were addressed by Mustafa Vatrenjak, muteveli of the Gazi Husrev-Beg Waqf and the expert team working on this project: prof. dr. Aida AbadÅ¾iÄ‡-HodÅ¾iÄ‡, Kenan Å urkoviÄ‡, Haris DerviÅ¡eviÄ‡ and Elvira BojadÅ¾iÄ‡.

From the press conference / Photo Â© Islamic Arts Magazine

The Museum will be dedicated to Gazi Husrev-Beg, his endowments, and will be a home to Islamic art collection that includes manuscripts, calligraphic works by Bosnian calligraphers, carpets, as well as Islamic artworks that were a gift by Ottoman Sultan Abdul Aziz.

Old carpets from the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque on exhibit at the Gazi Husrev-beg Library in Sarajevo / Photo Â© Islamic Arts Magazine

Persian carpet from the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in Sarajevo, 1935, 540x350 cm / Courtesy of Gazi Husrev-beg Waqf

Hand made carpet from the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque in Sarajevo, North-eastern Iran, probably from Kashmar in Khorasan, 1945-55, 780x490 cm. The carpet was a gift from Iranian Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi / Courtesy of Gazi Husrev-beg Waqf

At the press conference it was also announced that current carpets in the Gazi Husrev-Beg Mosque will be replaced by a new carpet, designed by Bosnian architect Husejn DropiÄ‡ and will be made in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some of the old Persian and Bosnian carpets will be placed in the Gazi Husrev-Beg Museum. The concept of the new carpet has been introduced by prof. dr. Ibrahim KrzoviÄ‡, prof. dr. Aida AbadÅ¾iÄ‡ HodÅ¾iÄ‡, Parviz Mohammadi and Husejn DropiÄ‡. The moderator of the press conference was dr. Zehra AlispahiÄ‡.

Gazi Husrev-Beg is one of the most important figures in Bosnian history. He was born in Serres, at the end of the 15th century, which s today's Greece. His father was Bosniak Ferhad-Beg and his mother was Ottoman princess Seljuk, a daughter of Sultan Bayezid II. Gazi Husrev-Beg was the Ottoman governor of Bosnia for twenty years. His largest cultural legacy is in Sarajevo, where he, among many other endowments, built the famous Gazi Hurev-Beg Mosque in 1530.