Bajrakli Mosque

The Bajrakli Mosque stands in the centre of Peja's old bazaar quarter, a 15th-century Ottoman structure that is one of the finest surviving examples of early Ottoman religious architecture in Kosovo. The interior is elegantly simple: a single domed prayer hall with painted arabesque decoration around the windows and a carved wooden minbar that has survived several centuries of use.

The mosque is active and visitors are welcome outside prayer times. The surrounding çarshia has changed considerably from its Ottoman heyday but still has the basic urban form — covered market streets, craftsmen's workshops at ground level, the sound of metalwork from the coppersmith district nearby. The walk from the mosque through the bazaar and down to the river takes about 20 minutes.

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A story
The Bajrakli Mosque takes its name from the Ottoman word for the standard-bearer who would signal the hour of prayer across the city. In Peja's Ottoman heyday, the Bajrakli Mosque was the principal mosque of the çarshia — when its muezzin called, the other mosques of the city would follow. The name survives in mosque names across the former Ottoman Balkans, a small linguistic fossil from the administrative system that once organised these cities.