Mirahori Mosque

Iljaz Mirahori Mosque
Xhamia e Iljaz Mirahorit
The mosque in 2014
Mirahori Mosque is located in Albania
Mirahori Mosque
Location of the mosque in Albania
Religion
AffiliationIslam
Mosque
  • (1496–c. 1946)
  • (since 1991– )
StatusActive
Location
LocationKorçë
CountryAlbania
Interactive map of Iljaz Mirahori Mosque
Coordinates40°36′57″N 20°46′31″E / 40.61583°N 20.77528°E / 40.61583; 20.77528
Architecture
TypeIslamic architecture
StyleOttoman
FounderIljaz bej Mirahori
Completed1496 CE
Specifications
Dome1
Minaret1
Official name
Iljaz Mirahori Mosque
Reference no.KO104

The Iljaz Mirahori Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Iljaz Mirahorit), or more simply the Mirahor Mosque, is a mosque in Korçë, Albania, built in 1494 by Iljaz bej Mirahori who also founded the town.

History

The mosque with a bigger sherefe (minaret balcony) than today (1934)

The mosque, identified by an inscription above its entrance as having been built in 1494–95, is one of the oldest in Albania. It features a square prayer hall topped by a single dome, a three-domed entrance porch, and finely crafted cloisonné masonry. Its minaret, first damaged by the Greeks and French until 1917 and then lost in an earthquake in the early 1960s, was rebuilt after 2006. Historically, the mosque served as the core of a larger architectural complex that included an imaret, bakery, storage rooms, a han, a hamam, and a mekteb. Iljaz bej Mirahori, a Korça-born official who rose to prominence under Sultan Bayezid II, endowed five villages to finance this and other constructions. His goal was to elevate the small settlement into a Muslim town, which, according to Ottoman law, required the presence of both a Friday mosque and a marketplace for residents to be registered as townspeople rather than peasants.[1] According to the writer Sami Frashëri, it was built on the foundations of an existing monastery, then called dedicated to Saint Paraskevi (Kisha e Shën e Premtes).[2]

The Iliaz Mirahor Mosque was designated as a religious Cultural Monument of Albania.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Zindel, Christian; Lippert, Andreas; Lahi, Bashkim; Kiel, Machiel (2018). Albanien: Ein Archäologie- und Kunstführer von der Steinzeit bis ins 19. Jahrhundert (in German). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 380.
  2. ↑ "Çfarë dihet për xhaminë e Mirahorit në Korçë?". Dita (in Albanian). February 29, 2016. Archived from the original on July 2, 2017. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Religious buildings with the "Culture Monument" status". Komiteti Shqiptar per Kultet. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved October 28, 2010.

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