Muradie Mosque

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

Location

The mosque stands in the center of Vlora on a central square and is surrounded on all four sides of roads. It is located west of the road Sadik Zotaj, at the same time the national road SH8, south of the road Lef Sallata and east of the road ATE Kristo Negovani.

History

The Muradie Mosque is the testimony of Ottoman history Vlora best preserved. Your builder was probably the most important Ottoman architect Sinan, who built the building in 1537 commissioned by the then Sultan Suleiman. The Sultan was the occasion of a ship expedition against the enemy's Italy in Vlora. In 1542 the work was completed.

Enver Hoxha, the former dictator of Albania, the country declared 1967 the " first atheist state in the world ". In the whole of Albania churches and mosques were closed, destroyed or converted. The Muradie Mosque, escaped destruction and was converted to urban and regional museum of architecture.

Method of construction

The building consists of the main building and the minaret. The former has an almost square plan of 10 by 11 meters. Above about 8 meter high wall is the dodecagonal drum and on the dome, which is covered with dark red bricks. With the exception of the northern walls are all equipped with three depressed pointed arches. The wall and the lower half of the main cylinder are constructed of alternating stone and brick, what the mosque is its characteristic striped pattern.

At the northwest corner of the building is the 18 meters 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.

Previously was connected to the north wall, where the main entrance is a portico, from which only a few traces of the foundation are obtained.