BAJICA NENADIĆ - FROM MILEŠEVO STUDENT TO GRAND VIZIER

The monument to the grand vizier is located on II Podrinjske brigade Street, 300m from the old bridge in Višegrad, and was donated to the city by businessman Slobodan Pavlović.

Mehmed-paša Sokolović was born as Bajica Nenadić in the village of Sokolovići near Rudo. His father's name was Dimitrije, and as a boy, he was educated at the Mileševa Monastery. He was taken to the Janissaries at the age of 15 in "Danko's Blood," and continued his education in the Edirne Saray, where he stayed for 13 years.

Mehmed-paša's first high position was as the commander-admiral of the Ottoman fleet. Unlike his predecessor Barbaros, Mehmed-paša did not sail the seas but remained in Istanbul throughout his service in that position, which was important for his future career and the connections he made with his family in Bosnia. In 1549, the governor-general of Rumelia, Semiz Ali-paša, became the third vizier, and Mehmed-paša took his place in Sofia.

This promotion can be seen through the lens of his abilities demonstrated up to that point, as well as through his background. After the death of the grand vizier Rustem-paša in 1561, the second vizier, Semiz Ali-paša, was appointed the first, and Mehmed-paša became the second vizier.

After four years in that position, Mehmed-paša Sokolović replaced Semiz Ali-paša, which was a naturally expected appointment for the grand vizier.

He was the last grand vizier appointed by Sultan Suleiman. At the beginning of his tenure, Mehmed-paša Sokolović managed to smoothly transfer the throne from Suleiman to his son Selim II, bringing the grand vizier to the center of Ottoman power, where he would remain in office for the next eight years throughout Selim II's reign.

He erected numerous endowments and waqfs throughout the Empire. By his order, in 1571, the bridge over the Drina in Višegrad was built, described in Ivo Andrić's work "The Bridge on the Drina," which was awarded the Nobel Prize. He also built at least three other bridges in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one in Montenegro, including the Arslanagić Bridge in Trebinje, the bridge at the confluence of the Žepa River into the Drina, the Goat Bridge in Sarajevo, and the Vizier's Bridge in Podgorica.

In his native village of Sokolovići near Rudo, he built a mosque, and in the village of Poblaće near Priboj, according to tradition, he built a church that was demolished and rebuilt several times. The church was built in the Saracen style, and the tradition in this village holds that it was built on his mother's grave.

Additionally, Mehmed-paša Sokolović is believed to have been the patron of many built fountains, the most famous of which is the one in Belgrade, at Kalemegdan.