Zagnos Pasha Mosque
A mosque in Balikesir. It was built as a complex in 1461 by Zagnos Pasha, one of the viziers of Fatih Sultan Mehmet. Today, its bath and mosque are still standing. It is a complex surrounded by a tomb, a muvakkithane and a bath. The mosque was built in 6 weeks with the appointment of 48 Fatih men and opened to worship on March 3, 1461 with a great ceremony. It was built in 1460-61 by Zagnos Pasha, son of Vrana Konti, the companion of Albanian Skender Bey. It was heavily damaged in the 1898 Balıkesir earthquake. It was rebuilt in 1902. It is the largest mosque in Balıkesir with a capacity of 1000 people. It is located right in the middle of the city. Mehmet Akif Ersoy delivered a sermon in this mosque during the Turkish War of Independence and excited the people about saving the homeland. It is the first and only mosque where Atatürk preached. This sermon is known as the Balıkesir Sermon. From the minaret of the mosque, all parts of the city can be seen.
The present mosque was built on the foundations of the old mosque by Ömer Ali Bey, the governor of the time, in 1904.
