Gazi Husrev-beg was a Bosniak Ottoman sanjak-bey (governor) of the Sanjak of Bosnia in 1521–1525, 1526–1534, and 1536–1541. He was known for his major contribution to the improvement of the structural development of Sarajevo urban area and his construction of many important buildings there, such as the Gazi Husrev-beg Mosque or the medresa Kuršumlija, as well as for his successful conquests and for the launching of further Ottoman expansion into Croatia.
He was born in Serres, Greece, to a Bosnian Muslim father Ferhad and a Turkish mother Selçuk Hatun, who was the daughter of the Sultan Bayezid II, making Gazi Husrev-Beg Beyazid II’s grandson.
Gazi Husrev-beg’s forces struggled against a power vacuum in Montenegro after the death of Ottoman ally, islamized Montenegrin lord Skender-beg Crnojević in 1528. In 1541, during an uprising of Montenegro nobility, he set out to protect the Crnojevićs and the local populace. After fighting many battles to maintain order in the region, although finally victorious, he was killed while fighting Christian rebels in Mokro, a small village in Drobnjaci (present-day Montenegro).
His corpse was returned to Sarajevo, where it remains in a tomb in the courtyard of his mosque.
The museum is located in Kuršumlija Medresa, one of the many objects built in the city by Gazi Husrev Bey.
The museum’s collection can be divided into eight thematic sections which fill the rooms that were once used by students at the medresa.
As they pass through the facility, visitors can come to learn more about Gazi Husrev Bey as a historical figure, his endowment (vafuk) and the medresa itself.
The central area in Kuršumlija Medresa is made up of dershani (small lecture halls) which serve as exhibit spaces for the collection of rare items that were part of Gazi Husrev Bey’s vakuf. There is also the muvekithana, a room with instruments used to determine the exact time, as well as a room dedicated to the bequeathed structures that were damaged during the Siege of Sarajevo (1992-1995).
In one of the rooms visitors can watch a documentary on Gazi Husrev Bey, the establishment of his vakuf and the objects that were built in Sarajevo as part of his generous endowment.