Ballie Mosque

Commonsense Studio - Elbasan, Albania - 2023

Key words: Community, Copper, DOME, Elbasan, Geometry, Heritage, Light, Ottoman, Spirituality

MOSQUE INTERIOR - Photography: © Besart Cani

The Ballie Mosque in Elbasan, completed in 2023, is both a reconstruction of memory and a projection of future identity. Built on the site of the demolished 17th-century Balizade Mosque, the project confronts Albania’s “dark year” of 1967, when religious buildings were destroyed under communist rule. Rather than replicating the Ottoman predecessor, the new mosque embraces a contemporary design that engages with Elbasan’s layered urban context - ancient ruins, a medieval castle, and communist-era structures - positioning itself as a dialogue between past and present.

Central to the design is geometry, long celebrated in Islamic art as a bridge between human and divine order. The mosque’s domes, minarets, and facades derive meaning from these geometric principles while carefully orchestrating light to create a dynamic, contemplative interior. Openings admit sunlight in shifting patterns, reinforcing Islamic notions of time and transience. Materiality also contributes to this meditation: marble suggests permanence, copper domes weather into dignity, and timber interiors glow with warmth, evoking spiritual transformation.

Functionally, the mosque accommodates up to 4,600 worshippers when including its forecourt, underscoring its civic scale. Critically, the project succeeds in moving beyond nostalgic replication, offering a sacred space that embodies both continuity and renewal while reasserting the mosque as a catalyst for cultural and spiritual life.