ET'HEM BEY MOSQUE
Elegant mosque completed in 1821, one of Tirana's few Ottoman buildings and one of the few painted mosques in the Balkans.
This small mosque of the Ottoman period (Xhamia e Haxhi Et'hem Beut) is one of the most beautiful of the country. Now bordered by the city hall, it was built from 1794 to 1821 under the direction of the Albanian religious leader Mullah Bey, then his son, the administrator and poet Haxhi Et'hem Bey. It is one of the few vestiges of the Ottoman past of the capital. Closed under the communist dictatorship, it was spared during the atheist campaign of 1967. It was reopened for worship on January 18, 1991, without authorization from the authorities. On that day, some 10,000 people attended the big Friday prayer in Skanderbeg Square. The first entrance is a delicate portico, composed of fourteen arched arches placed on fifteen columns. It houses the tombs of its two patrons and the wife of Haxhi Et'hem Bey. The outer walls are decorated with paintings of idyllic landscapes. These motifs, rare in 19th century Islamic art, reveal an influence of the bektashime, the brotherhood to which Haxhi Et'hem Bey dedicated several poems. The small prayer hall, built on a square plan, can accommodate only 60 worshippers. Covered by a dome and surrounded by a large and delicate portico, it is also decorated with paintings that reach under the dome. Women can go up to the small balcony, which is reserved for them, to admire the decor more closely. The minaret (39 m high) was rebuilt by the Italians in 1939 during the construction of the current city hall.
Magnifiques fresques intérieures et extérieures.
Belle ambiance fervente sans être fanatique. Un havre de paix.