Jakovali Hassan Mosque, Pecs

This building is a bit hidden between the other buildings and is just outside the centre of Pecs, but it is the best preserved mosque of Hungary. It is amazing that the Turks and consequently the Austrians have destroyed almost anything in Hungary but that they have spared this city.



Besides these hybrids, the Jakovali Hassan mosque in Pecs, and the Malkocs Bej mosque in Siklos, a rundown town near the Croatian border, seem restrained. Jakovali Hassan is Hungary’s only intact mosque and the most sensitively restored. The monastery that once adjoined it is long gone, and now it is jammed between three-storey buildings, its minaret poking up hopefully behind, an oddity in a street some way from the town’s attractions. While many of the churches in Pecs were transformed into mosques during the Turkish occupation and then back again into Christian homes of worship, the Jakovali Hassan Mosque is still an active center of Islamic faith. It serves the small population of practicing students who are attending the nearby medical university. Dating from the 1500’s, it’s amazing the building has remained intact. Perhaps even more surprising is that the minaret out behind the mosque is also stil standing tall, though it is off limits to the mosque’s visitors. A small museum display in the lobby illustrates the history of the mosque and the city of Pecs under Turkish rule.



The mosque established by Yakovali Hassan Pasha was built in the second half of the 16th century, outside the Szigeti gate of the town. During renovation, the mosque was refurnished according to its original purposes. This is the only Turkish age mosque in Hungary that remained intact together with its minaret.

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