Et'hem Bey Mosque

Et'hem Bey Mosque
Native name Albanian: Xhamia e Et'hem Beut
During the day
Location	Tirana, Albania
Built	1819 or 1821
Cultural Monument of Albania

The Et'hem Bey Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Et'hem Beut) is an 18th-century mosque located in the center of the Albanian capital Tirana. Closed under communist rule, the mosque reopened as a house of worship in 1991, without permission from the authorities. 10,000 courageous people dared to attend and remarkably the police did not interfere. You can take a look at the frescoes outside and in the portico which depict trees, waterfalls and bridges - motifs rarely seen in Islamic art.

History

Construction was started in 1791 or 1794 by Molla Bey and it was finished in 1819 or 1821 by his son Haxhi Ethem Bey, grand-grandson of Sulejman Pasha.

During the totalitarianism of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, the mosque was closed. On January 18, 1991, despite opposition from communist authorities, 10,000 people entered carrying flags. This was at the onset of the fall of communism in Albania. The event was a milestone in the rebirth of religious freedom in Albania.

The frescoes of the mosque depict trees, waterfalls and bridges; still life paintings are a rarity in Islamic art. Tours of the mosque are given daily, though not during prayer service. You have to take your shoes off before entering the inner room.

Gallery

• Ethem Bey mosque in Tirana.jpg

  The inside of the mosque

• Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-049-1605-30A, Jugoslawien, Raupenschlepper Ost mit Anhänger.jpg

  The mosque in 1943

• 

  The mosque at day.

See also

• Timeline of Islamic history
• Islamic architecture
• Islamic art
• List of mosques
• Islam in Albania