Church mosque St. Stephan

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South facade of the ruins of the church mosque

The church mosque Sankt Stephan ( Albanian  Kisha-xhami e Shën Stefanit ) or Fatih Mosque is a ruined sacred building on the site of Rozafa Castle in Shkodra . It is the only surviving medieval church building in Shkodra.

The exact time of construction of St. Stephen's Cathedral is not known, probably built at the end of the 13th or beginning of the 14th century. In 1319, craftsmen from Ragusa were sent to Shkodra to repair the roof of the choir. At the time of construction there was an unfortified settlement on the castle hill next to a small fort. Today the building is in the second courtyard on the northwest side of the fortress near the wall. After Shkodra was conquered by the Ottomans in 1479, the church was immediately converted into a mosque , which was named after Sultan Mehmed II  . A minaret , of which remains have been preserved, was added. The castle hill remained inhabited for a long time.

The church was a single nave, long naos with an atypical, almost square apse, separated by a wide arcade. The walls were made of small, hewn blocks; Differences in wall technology indicate numerous renovations and conversions. The Romanesque - Gothic style of the building is typical of the time in southern Dalmatia and northwestern Albania .

Remnants of the vestibule

Later, a vestibule was added in the south, which consists of an entrance gate and three arcades. Windows were also built into the south wall, which is the only one that still exists. The windows are 1.25 meters wide and two arcades are 1.34 meters wide.

Under the Ottomans, the building was changed, about bricked up the connection to the apse, only space for the mihrab leaving open. The position of the new minaret required that it could only be accessed through an external door. The remains of a dikka balcony can be found on the west wall .

In 1865 the St. Stephen's Cathedral was  opened in the city center of Shkodra as a successor building.

Web links

Commons : St. Stephan Church Mosque  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Guntram Koch : DuMont art travel guide Albania . DuMont, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7701-2079-5 , p. 146 f .
  2. ↑ a b c d Aleksandër Meksi : Ndërtimet mesjetare të kultit në Shkodër . In: Qëndra e Studimeve Albanologjike u. a. (Ed.): Art & Trashëgimi . No. 3 . Argjiro, Tirana December 2011, p. 80-88 .
  3. ^ Machiel Kiel : Ottoman architecture in Albania (1385-1912) . In: Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (Ed.): Islamic art series . tape 5 . Istanbul 1990, ISBN 92-9063-330-1 , pp. 230 .

Coordinates: 42 ° 2 ′ 47.2 ″  N , 19 ° 29 ′ 35 ″  E