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title: IslamicCenterofRijeka.txt
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The building housing the Islamic Community of Rijeka, one of only six mosques in Croatia, is based on a design by Dušan Džamonja, a famed Croatian sculptor of Serbian origins, who is best known for his spectacular monuments to the Second World War. While Muslims have had a presence in Rijeka at least since the 19th century, as representatives of the Ottoman Empire, the origins of the present-day community are found in migration from Bosnia Herzegovina in the 1960s, and later, from Kosovo, later enriched by a large wave of refugees as a result of the war in the 1990s in Bosnia Herzegovina. A grassroots effort that began in 1960 culminated in the official establishment of the Islamic Community in 1966. The Community decided in 1981 to work towards a new building. It would take another twenty-eight years, however, until the Community would achieve this ambition. The Community obtained a site from the city of Rijeka in the neighborhood of Podmurvice in 1986 and selected a design by Sarajevo architect Ahmed Hadrović in 1991. The outbreak of war in Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina, unfortunately, interrupted these plans, as the Community soon found itself having to prioritize the flood of refugees into Rijeka. Following the expiry of the construction permit in 1994, the city of Rijeka offered alternative locations to the Community, which opted in 1998 for the present site in Hostov Breg. A competition for a new design for the building in 2000 was marred by controversy, when it was realized that the winning design had plagiarized a design for a department store in Amsterdam. Džamonja’ stunning design won a subsequent competition, and the resulting building was inaugurated in 2013. Rather than adopting a traditional Islamic architectural expression, it represents a modern reinterpretation in reinforced concrete and steel.