Mosque of Pasha Qasim

The Downtown Candlemas Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, formerly known as the Mosque of Pasha Qasim is a Roman Catholic church in Pécs, Hungary, which turned into a mosque in the 16–17th century because of the Ottoman conquest. It is one of the symbols of the town, placed in the downtown, on the main rectangular. The present day building, one hundred steps in duration and in width, become built by way of Pasha Qasim the Victorious between 1543 and 1546. The mosque become converted to a church in 1702, after Habsburg-Hungarian troops reconquered the city. The minaret become destroyed with the aid of the Jesuits in 1766.

One of the largest Turkish structures ultimate in Hungary, the constructing nevertheless retains a few Turkish architectural characteristics. Standing at the very best point of Pecs's Szechenyi square, the mosque of pasha Qasim is the greatest instance of Turkish architecture in Hungary. It in all likelihood changed into built within the second half of the sixteenth century. In the 1660s, the well-known Turkish visitor Evliya Çelebi wrote of the overpowering majesty of its view.