Mosque of Pasha Qasim

The Mosque of Pasha Qasim is the largest surviving Ottoman mosque in Hungary and one of the most striking buildings in Central Europe — a domed, red-stone structure sitting on Széchenyi Square at the very centre of Pécs, improbably topped with a Catholic cross. Pasha Gazi Qasim built it in the second half of the 16th century using stones from an earlier Gothic church, and it served as the main Muslim house of worship in the city throughout the 150-year Ottoman occupation.

The interior is divided between the original Ottoman structure — the dome, the surviving tiles, the Arabic inscriptions around the windows — and the Catholic additions made after 1686, including an altar, side chapels, and statues. The mixture of the two traditions in a single space is genuinely unusual. The building is a functioning church (the Inner City Parish Church of Pécs) and can be visited during regular church hours. Entry is free; a small donation is appreciated.

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A story
When the Austrians reconquered Pécs in 1686, the mosque was converted to Catholic use. Rather than destroying the building, successive administrations simply whitewashed the Arabic inscriptions and covered the mihrab (the niche indicating the direction of Mecca) with Christian decoration. In the 20th century, careful restoration work revealed the original Arabic calligraphy underneath, and today you can stand inside a Catholic church and see both sets of religious text — verses from the Quran and Christian imagery — on the same walls.

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