Its founder, Iljaz Bey Mirahori, was an Ottoman commander from the Korçë area who served Sultans Mehmed II and Bayezid II and is remembered as the founder of the town. An inscription above the entrance dates the mosque to 1494–95. Iljaz Bey endowed it with the income of five villages and surrounded it with a soup kitchen, a han, a hammam and a Koranic school, giving the small settlement the Friday mosque and market it needed to be recognised as a town under Ottoman law.
The building is a fine example of early Ottoman architecture: a square prayer hall beneath a single dome, entered through a three-domed porch, with walls of dressed stone framed by brick. The minaret was lost in the 20th century and has since been rebuilt. Visit outside prayer times, dress modestly and remove your shoes before entering.
Combine it with a stroll through the Old Bazaar nearby to experience two sides of Korçë’s history.
