Mosque Architecture For The Bosniak Community In Europe: Challenges Of Modernity

Abstract

The construction of modern Islamic, religious and cultural centers is one of the increasingly present architectural themes in Western Europe. In their visual identity and basic design principles, these centers seek to harmonize the recognizable elements of the vernacular cultural and historical heritages with the environment of contemporary life. In recent years, the Bosniak community in various European countries has been ever more confronted with this open question. The topic brings together complex social, political, and cultural issues related to the representation of the religious and national identities of a minority ethnic/national group within the wider globalization processes. As growingly present in some European countries, the issue of attitudes towards Islam has recently become particularly sensitive. The international architectural competition for the project of the Islamic religious and cultural center for the (dominantly) Bosniak community in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was evaluated by the public as the most important European architectural competition in 2011.

The paper will analyze the modalities of dynamic understanding and defining the concepts of Islamic art and architecture and contemporary mosque architecture in Europe where mosques become multifunctional centers with religious and socio-cultural content of wider importance. The paper will focus on the mosque architecture for Bosniak communities, within the time frame that stretches from the construction of the Islamic Cultural Centre in Zagreb / Croatia (1987) to the recently opened Islamic Religious and Cultural Centre in Ljubljana / Slovenia (2019). The Ljubljana project was awarded the 2020 Plečnik Award, which is given for the greatest successes in shaping the Slovenian environment as well as the European cultural environment. Special emphasis will be given to the Islamic Religious and Cultural Centre in Ljubljana and the analysis of its formal and stylistic determinants, including their harmonization with the models and patterns of traditional architecture on one hand and with the challenges imposed by the necessity of integration into local environments and search for a new style on the other.