Lala Şahin Pasha Mosque

This Lala Şahin Pasha Mosque once formed part of a larger religious complex built in Kirmasti, today the town of Mustafakemalpaşa in Bursa province, by Rumeli Beylerbeyi (governor-general) Lala Şahin Pasha, a leading military and political figure under Orhan Gazi in the earliest decades of the Ottoman state. According to the complex's endowment deed, dated to June 1348, the founder used spoils captured in a battle fought around 1339-40 near İznik against Byzantine forces to finance construction of the mosque, an adjoining madrasa, a dervish lodge, a bathhouse, shops, and a wooden bridge over the nearby Kirmasti stream, all intended to generate income for the foundation's upkeep. Lala Şahin Pasha himself is buried in a tomb on the site. Of the original complex, only this tomb survives in good condition today: the mosque itself has completely disappeared, its minaret was destroyed down to its lower section, and only fragments of the madrasa's walls remain standing within what is now a public park.