Muradie mosque

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The Muradie Mosque, view from the southwest

The Muradie Mosque ( Albanian  Xhamia e Muradies ) is an architectural cultural monument from the Ottoman past in the Albanian port city of Vlora . The mosque was completed in 1542 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city. In 1948 it was declared part of the cultural heritage of Albania.

location

The mosque stands in the center of Vlora in a central square and is surrounded by streets on all four sides. It is located to the west of Sadik Zotaj Street , which is also the SH8 national road , south of Lef Sallata Street and east of Atë Kristo Negovani Street . The main entrance is on the north facade, where the vestibule or portico was.

history

The mosque in 1914 with what was then the large vestibule

The Muradie Mosque is the best preserved testimony to the Ottoman history of Vlora. Its builder was probably the most important Ottoman architect Sinan , who had the building built in 1537 on behalf of the then Sultan Suleyman I. The Sultan was on the occasion of a ship expedition against enemy Italy in Vlora. In 1542 the construction work was finished.

Enver Hoxha , the former dictator of Albania, declared the country the "first atheist state in the world" in 1967 . All over Albania churches and mosques have been closed, destroyed or converted. The Muradie Mosque escaped destruction and was converted into the city and regional museum of architecture.

Construction

The interior of the mosque with mihrāb (mihrapi) and minbar (mimberi)

The structure consists of the main building and the minaret . The former has an almost square floor plan measuring 10 by 11 meters. Above the approximately 8-meter-high wall is the twelve-sided drum and on top of it the dome , which is covered with dark red bricks. With the exception of the northern one, all walls are equipped with three pointed arches . The wall and the lower half of the drum are made of alternating stone and brick, which gives the mosque its characteristic striped pattern.

At the north-western corner of the building is the approximately 18-meter-high minaret, which is equipped with a balcony for the muezzin and a conical roof made of lead. The whole building was made with stone.

There used to be a portico connected to the north wall, where the main entrance is , of which only a few traces of the foundation have been preserved.

Web links

Commons : Muradie Mosque  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Objects fetare monumente kulture. In: Komiteti shtetëror për Kultet. Retrieved July 17, 2016 (Albanian).

Coordinates: 40 ° 28 ′ 8.5 ″  N , 19 ° 29 ′ 27.3 ″  E