Tetovo

Tetovo stands beneath the Šar Mountains on the edge of the Polog plain, where the Pena River emerges from the highlands. Under Ottoman rule the town acquired religious and charitable buildings that made it an important local center. Among them was a mosque endowed by two local sisters, Hurshida and Mensure, whose tomb stands in its courtyard.

In 1799 Recep Pasha endowed the grounds of the Arabati Baba tekke, a religious complex associated with the Bektashi dervishes. Its buildings provided spaces for worship, hospitality and daily life. His son Abdurrahman Pasha later rebuilt the sisters' mosque in 1833, commissioning skilled craftsmen to decorate it with vivid painted designs. The resulting Painted Mosque became one of Tetovo's most distinctive buildings beside the river.