Village:
Mangalia
Ottoman name of village:
Mangalya/Mankalya
Latitude:
43.8102778
Longitude:
028.5830556
Date:
1575
Description:
Mosque built in 1575 by Esmahan Sultan, Sultan, daughter of sultan Selim II and wife of the grand vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha after she retired to Mangalia. It is the oldest and one of the most expressive Ottoman mosque in Romania. It has a rectangular shape and has a wooden porch. The porch is open on three sides and is wider than the buiding. Right above the entrance the shaddada, confession of Islamic faith, is carved in marble. To the left of the mosque a ritual fountain was built from a Roman sarcophagus wich after a while was replaced by a typically oriental well. In interior, on the northern side is a gallery supported by marble columns which come from different buidings of the ancient citadel. Hidden in in the wall ceramic vessels amplify sound in thr prayer room. The mihrab is dug into the wall is closed off at the top with a succesion of retreating stalactites. The windows of mosque is contoured by broken arched. The minaret was rebuilt 1892 after the first one was destroyed by lightning one year before. The mosque was renovated in more than one steps in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of 21th century.
Literature:
Bruno Andreșoiu: Geamii: Minarete pe cerul Dobrogei - Minarets in a Dobrogea sky, 2012, p. 60-77
Link to map
