The White Mosque

Tucked among the small shops and winding streets of central Visoko, Šerefudin’s White Mosque offers an unexpected interpretation of Islamic architecture. Designed in 1969 by Bosnian architect Zlatko Ugljen on the site of a 15th-century Ottoman mosque, it received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1983.

A curved ramp leads down from the street into a quieter world of white walls, warm wood and green accents. Inside, an undulating ceiling draws daylight through five openings, which the mosque’s imam, Hafiz Edin Bukva, describes as symbols of Islam’s five pillars and five daily prayers. A geometric wooden mihrab—the niche marking the direction of prayer—anchors the otherwise restrained interior.

Yet the building’s story extends beyond its distinctive forms. Funded largely through community donations, the mosque is both an architectural landmark and a place of everyday gathering: worshippers pause between prayers, neighbours meet in the courtyard, and visitors move between the busy street and the stillness below.

These photographs explore that relationship between *architecture* and the people who give it life—from the sculptural roofline and light-filled prayer hall to the intimate gestures of worship and conversation.