View source for Et'hem Bey Mosque

{{Short description|Sunni mosque in Tirana, Albania}}
{{use mdy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox religious building
| name                  = Et'hem Bey Mosque
| native_name           = {{lang|sq|Xhamia e Et’hem Beut}}
| native_name_lang      = sq
| image                 = Ethem Bey mosque, Tirana (by Pudelek).jpg
| image_upright         = 1.4
| caption               = Them mosque in 2014
| map_type              = Albania
| map_size              = 250
| map_alt               = 
| map_relief            = yes
| map_caption           = Location of the mosque in [[Albania]]
| mapframe = yes
| religious_features    = Interior and exterior [[fresco]]es
| religious_features_label = Architectural features
| coordinates           = {{coord|41|19|40|N|19|49|9|E|type:landmark_region:AL|display=inline,title}}
| religious_affiliation = [[Sunni Islam]]
| status                = [[Mosque]]<br/>{{smalldiv|{{bulleted list|({{circa|1821}}{{endash}}1967)|(since 1991{{endash}} )}}}}
| functional_status     = Active
| location              = [[Tirana]], [[Tirana County]]
| country               = [[Albania]]
| architecture_type     = {{nowrap|[[Islamic architecture]]}}
| architecture_style    = [[Ottoman architecture|Ottoman]]
| groundbreaking        = {{circa|1794}}
| year_completed        = {{circa|1821}}
| founded_by            = {{ubl|[[Molla Bey of Petrela|Molla Bey]]|[[Haxhi Etëhem Bey Mollaj|Haxhi Ethem Bey]]}}
| dome_quantity         = 1
| minaret_quantity      = 1
| module                = {{Infobox Historic Site
| embed = yes
| designation1_offname    = Mosque of Ethem Beu
| designation1            = Cultural Monument of Albania
| designation1_date       = 24 May 1948
| designation1_partof     = 
| designation1_number     = TR152
| designation1_criteria   = 
| designation1_type       = 
| designation1_free1name  = 
| designation1_free1value = 
}}<!-- for embedding other infobox templates -->
| footnotes             = <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ba.itc.cnr.it/SOS-Tirana/info/MOSQUE_OF_ETHEM_BEU.html |title=Mosque of Ethem Beu |access-date=2016-09-30 |archive-date=2016-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018101610/http://www.ba.itc.cnr.it/SOS-Tirana/info/MOSQUE_OF_ETHEM_BEU.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}
The '''Et'hem Bey Mosque''', officially the '''Haji Et'hem Bey Mosque''' ({{langx|sq|Xhamia e Haxhi Et'hem Beut}}, {{langx|tr|Hacı Edhem Bey Camii}}), is a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[mosque]] located in [[Tirana]], [[Albania]]. The mosque is well known for its [[fresco]]es outside and inside the portico which depict trees, waterfalls and bridges.

Closed alongside other houses of worship during the [[People's Socialist Republic of Albania|Communist rule]] of [[Enver Hoxha]], 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]]. Tours of the mosque are given daily, though not during prayer service. Visitors must take their shoes off before entering the inner room.<ref>{{cite book |title=Europe on a shoestring |author=Johnstone, Sarah |page=59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e7_-rb4Et6UC&dq=Et%27hem+Bey+Mosque&pg=PA59 |location= |publisher= |year= |isbn= |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date= }}</ref>

== History ==
Construction was started in 1791 or 1794 by [[Molla Bey of Petrela|Molla Bey]] and it was finished in 1819 or 1821 by his son [[Haxhi Etëhem Bey Mollaj|Haxhi Ethem Bey]], a great-grandson of [[Sulejman Pasha]].<ref name="Norris">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RGmzir-ITtUC&q=Tahir+Efendi+Jakova&pg=PA76 |pages=77–78 |title=Islam in the Balkans: Religion and Society Between Europe and the Arab World |author=Norris, H. T. |publisher=[[University of South Carolina]] Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780872499775|oclc=28067651 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Cavendish, M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ML-aXrrBrv8C&dq=Et%27hem+Bey+Mosque&pg=PA1629 |title=World and Its Peoples |page= 1629 |location= |publisher= |year= |isbn= |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date= }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ba.itc.cnr.it/SOS-Tirana/info/MOSQUE_OF_ETHEM_BEU.html |title=Mosque of Ethem Beu |access-date=2016-09-30 |archive-date=2016-10-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018101610/http://www.ba.itc.cnr.it/SOS-Tirana/info/MOSQUE_OF_ETHEM_BEU.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Adhami |first=Stilian |date=March 1970 |title=Past Values Preservation Institute |journal=New Albania |volume=XXIV |issue=3 |pages=33–35}}</ref> On January 18, 1991, at the onset of the fall of [[communism in Albania]], despite opposition from communist authorities, 10,000 people entered the mosque carrying flags. The event was a milestone in the rebirth of religious freedom in Albania.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Clunies Ross, Anthony |author2=Sudar, Petar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pfWrAAAAIAAJ&q=Et'hem+Bey+Mosque |title=Albania's economy in transition and turmoil, 1990-97 |year=1998 |page=57 |location= |publisher= |isbn= |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date= }}</ref> 

== 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.<ref name=Arapi>{{cite web |author=Arapi, Dorina |title=Visual representations of Constantinople - Istanbul and other images in mural paintings and artifacts of the late Ottoman centuries in Albania |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337920031 |website=researchgate.net |language=en |date= |access-date= }}</ref>

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''”.<ref name=Arapi/>

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”.

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Ethem Bey Mosque Tirana Minaret Albania 017.jpg|<!-- Please add a description to each image. Thanks. -->
Tirana,_moschea_ethem_bey,_esterno_di_notte_02.JPG
Et%27hem_Bey_Mosque_Tirana_3.JPG
Et%27hem_Bey_Mosque_Tirana_4.JPG
Tirana,_moschea_ethem_bey,_interno_08.JPG
Tirana mosque 2016.jpg
Tirana 2017.jpg
</gallery>

==See also==
{{stack|{{portal|Islam|Albania}}}}
* [[Islam in Albania]]
* [[List of mosques in Albania]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category-inline}}

{{Tirana}}
{{Religious Cultural Monuments in Tirana County}}
{{Mosques in Albania}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1819 establishments in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:19th-century mosques in the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Cultural Monuments of Albania]]
[[Category:Mosque buildings with domes in Albania]]
[[Category:Mosque buildings with minarets in Albania]]
[[Category:Mosques completed in the 1810s]]
[[Category:Mosques in Tirana]]
[[Category:Ottoman mosques in Albania]]
[[Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1819]]
[[Category:Sunni mosques in Albania]]
[[Category:19th-century mosques in Albania]]