| dbo:abstract |
This is a list of former mosques in Greece. It lists former mosques (Arabic: مَسْجِد, romanized: masjid, Greek: Τζαμί, romanized: tzamí, Turkish: Camii) and places of worship for Muslims in Greece. It lists some but by no means all of the old historical mosques of Greece. The term former mosque in this list includes any Muslim mosque (building) or site used for Islamic Prayer (Salah) in Greece but is not so any longer. For currently open, functioning mosques in Greece see List of mosques in Greece. Mosques have existed within the borders of modern Greece since the era of Emirate of Crete (824-961). But no mosques of the Emirate remain as they were torn down and remaining Muslims either killed, enslaved or converted to Christianity after the Byzantine reconquest of Crete (961). Therefore currently the oldest mosque in Greece and the entire Balkan peninsula is believed to be the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Mosque, the first in Didymoteicho (Western Thrace) built between 1389-1402. Most of the listed former mosques date from the late 14th century to the early 20th century, when various parts of modern Greece was at some point a part of the Ottoman Empire. Beyond the new mosques built during Ottoman period, several Christian churches throughout Greece were also converted to mosques over time upon conquest, like the church of Hagios Demetrios in Thessalonica. Those were gradually converted back to churches following Greece's independence and annexation of other regions. Many Ottoman mosques and the other Muslim monuments, especially in southern Greece, were either destroyed during the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s and successive wars and conflicts. During periods of nationalist uprising and wars against the Ottoman and later the Turkish army, the newly independent Greek nation showed little respect for the monuments of a faith identified with the enemy. A number of Ottoman mosques were confiscated and repurposed for use as government offices, churches, and other civilian purposes. Many more mosques in Greece were closed or abandoned due to the 1923 Population exchange between Greece and Turkey. As a result, 355,000 to 400,000 Muslims left Greece, most of them forcibly made to leave their lands, livelihoods, and mosques. Many former mosques and other religious buildings also survived in the provinces of Macedonia, Thrace, Crete, and the islands of the Dodecanese which were integrated into the Greek State in the early 20th century. By then there was already a law for the protection of religious buildings of all faiths. The surviving former mosques or other religious structures are nowadays protected as monuments. A number of them are still used as government buildings and churches, while many others have been restored and used as museums, exhibition, and concerts centers and as tourist attractions. (en) |
