Obiliq, home of Gazimestan and Sultan Murad's tomb

Obiliq doesn’t make many travel lists, and there’s a reason. It’s a small municipality hugging Pristina to the north-west, with little to see beyond two monuments. But those two are just a few kilometres from the capital and tell an important part of the area’s history, so it’s worth a morning.

The municipality in numbers

Obiliq (Obilić in Serbian) is in the Pristina region. In the 2024 census it had 22,815 inhabitants, slightly up on 21,549 in 2011, spread over 20 settlements according to the statistics agency. Obiliq town had 7,634, followed by Mazgit with 2,906, then Plemetin and Miloshevë. Two settlements, Dobrosellë and Minjerë e Kosovës, had no registered residents in either 2011 or 2024.

OpenStreetMap puts the town roughly 8 km in a straight line from central Pristina, and the monuments are even closer to the capital, around Mazgit.

The tomb of Sultan Murad I

In the village of Mazgit, the Ministry of Culture protects the tomb of Sultan Murad I, built in the 14th century, who according to its record died in 1389. The Ministry counts it among the oldest works of Ottoman architecture in the Balkans. Inside is the grave, a wooden casket surrounded by the graves of those who guarded it for decades.

The building has a square plan and a brick dome, with a porch under a small dome resting on four stone columns. The walls mix brick and sandstone blocks, with eight windows, and the entrance has carved marble decoration of plant motifs and inscriptions in Arabic script.

The record traces its history in detail. In 1660 the traveller Evliya Çelebi found it neglected; in 1845 Hurshid Pasha had it repaired; in 1866 a fountain was added to the courtyard; in 1896 a two-storey guesthouse for visitors was finished; and in 1907 it was renovated on the orders of Abdul Hamid II. In 2005 it was restored over eight months with funding from Turkish institutions, in 2009 the guesthouse became a cultural centre and in 2011 it received 8,000 visitors, making it one of the most visited places in Kosovo that year.

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Gazimestan

About two kilometres away as the crow flies, on the Mazgit plateau, is the Gazimestan memorial, shielded by Law 03/L-039 as a Special Zone along with the standard-bearer’s tomb, another 14th-century Ottoman tomb. I cover it on its own page, sticking to the facts in the law and the Ministry of Culture’s records.

How to visit

No official source publishes opening hours or prices for these monuments. I’d go in the morning from Pristina, by car or booked taxi, see Murad’s tomb first and then Gazimestan, and be back for lunch. It’s one of the short outings in my day trips from Pristina. gov.uk recommends booking taxis through registered firms, which have regulated fares.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Pristina and pick one that fits your day.

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