The Et'hem Bey Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Haxhi Et'hem Beut, Turkish: Hacı Edhem Bey Camii) is a mosque in Tirana, Albania, known for its frescoes outside and inside the portico which depict trees, waterfalls and bridges.
Closed under communist rule, the mosque reopened as a house of worship in 1991. Without permission from the authorities, 10,000 people attended and the police did not interfere. The mosque consists of an architectural complex together with the Clock Tower of Tirana. Today, tours of the mosque are given daily, though not during prayer service. Visitors must take their shoes off before entering the inner room.[2]
At the time it was built it was part of complex buildings that compose the historical center of Tirana. In front of the mosque was the old Bazaar, in east the Sulejman Pasha Mosque, which was built in 1614 and destroyed during World War II, and in the north-west the Karapici mosque.[5]
During the totalitarianism of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania, the mosque was closed; it was declared a historical monument and underwent restorations in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[6] On January 18, 1991, despite opposition from communist authorities, 10,000 people entered the mosque carrying flags. This was at the onset of the fall of communism in Albania.[7] The event was a milestone in the rebirth of religious freedom in Albania.
Architecture
The Et'hem Bey Mosque is composed of a prayer hall, a portico that surrounds its north and the minaret. On the north side is the entrance to the prayer hall, which is a squared plan and is constructed in a unique volume. It is covered with a dome and the dome is semi-spherical and has no windows. The frescoes of the mosque depict trees, waterfalls and bridges. In the interior part of the mosque, on the eastern side of the prayer hall and in the prayer area of women, Süleymaniye Mosque is shown among other landscapes, with its four minarets, same as it appears in the Bachelors' Mosque in Berat. Most of the scenes that appear in mural paintings, are not realistic paintings, but imaginary scenes. The portico of the mosque is decorated by numerous landscapes as well.[8]
According to Kristo Frashëri, in the painting of the mosque's portico, an island is portrayed with a river that flows through it where the boats sail. In one of the chronograms in the mosque, it is written that “the mosque has given eternal beauty to the city, as Hagia Sophia has given to Istanbul”.[9]
The author of the verses recalls the idea of Hagia Sophia, which does not appear on mural paintings. The identification of Süleymaniye mosque with Hagia Sophia is almost understandable. The Süleymaniye mosque, positioned on the third hill, dominated the skyline of the city of Istanbul. Under the image of the former Byzantine basilica of Hagia Sophia, the Süleymaniye mosque was seen as a “progeny of the Hagia Sophia”.
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