The Gunja Mosque is the oldest mosque in Croatia in continuous use. During the
Ottoman era, there was 250 mosques in Croatia. However, , only three mosques remained standing. The largest and most representative one of them, Ibrahim Pasha's Mosque, is located in eastern Croatian town of
Đakovo but is today used as the
Roman Catholic Church of All Saints. Another mosque in eastern Croatia, which today does not exist, was located in
Osijek. It was the
Kasım Pasha Mosque constructed after 1526 at the site of modern-day
Church of Saint Michael. Most of the Ottoman structures in the region were systematically destroyed after the
Treaty of Karlowitz. They returned to Bosnia, but once they witnessed the extent of destruction some of them returned once again to Gunja. During the existence of the
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Muslim community in Gunja increased to 2,500 individuals.
Construction of the mosque The mosque in Gunja was completed in 1969 after 14 months and functioned as the only active mosque in Croatia until
Zagreb Mosque was completed in 1987. While local religious leadership requested and expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of reconstruction funding from the
Government of Croatia, object was ultimately reconstructed by an €165,000 donation of the
Republic of Turkey. On the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Gunja Mosque local Muslim religious leader
imam Idriz ef. Bešić received life achievement award of the Vukovar-Srijem County for 38 years of his service in Gunja. ==See also==