He was a son of the of a famous sandjak bey Skender-pahsa, whose father was from Genoa and mother a Greek. He was educated under the palace of Sultan Mehemed Fatih.

This famous military leader after a numerous battles fought in Bosnia built a number of endowments in Sarajevo. He built the first domed mosque in Sarajevo in 1517, which was destroyed in 1935, and its minaret also destroyed in 1960.

On the left bank of Miljacka he built a tekke of Naqshabandi order, just next to it musafirhana (a room for dervishi meetings, or apartmenst), where he brought a water from Soukbunar, and a few water pipes.

On the right bank he built a house, Caravansaraj, shops, and all those endowments he connected with a bridge over Miljacka. On Skender-pasha, and his son Mustafa today reminds us just Skenderija site.