The Ibrahim Han Mosque (, from ), also known as the Sultan Ibrahim Mosque (), is a historical Ottoman mosque in the town of

Rethymno Rethymno (also Rethymnon; ) is a city in Greece on the island of Crete. It is the capital of Rethymno regional unit, and has a population of more than 35,000 inhabitants (nearly 40,000 for the municipal unit). It is believed to have been built ...

, on the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, in southern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Situated inside the old

fortezza of Rethymno The Fortezza (; from ) is the citadel of the city of Rethymno in Crete, Greece. It was built by the Venetians in the 16th century, and was captured by the Ottomans in 1646. By the early 20th century, many houses were built within the citadel. ...

, the mosque was originally built as a church by the Venetians but converted into a mosque following the island's conquest at the hands of the Ottomans. Today it functions as an exhibition center.

History

It was built on the site of the Venetian Cathedral, a church built around 1583-85 and dedicated to

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

. The Venetians transferred the cathedral seat to the fortezza after the previous church was completely destroyed during the 1571 invasion. In 1585, the successor bishop Carrara refused to hold masses in the church, claiming that it was not adequately equipped and the space was too narrow. Very shortly after the town of Rethymno was conquered by the Ottomans, they demolished the church and built the mosque, dedicated to Sultan

Ibrahim I Ibrahim I may refer to: *Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab (756–812), first emir of the Aghlabids in Ifriqiya * Ibrahim I ibn Marzuban I ( 957–979), King of Dvin and Azerbaijan *İbrahim I of Karaman ( 1318–1343), bey of Karaman Beylik *Ibrahim I of Sh ...

in 1648, with a large, imposing dome. The complaed became property of the city of Rethymno in 1971; it was restored between 2002 and 2004 by the Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, and now it is used as an exhibition center.

Architecture

The mosque's dome is 11 metres in diameter, and rests on eight arches. Today, the spherical triangles formed in the corners from the arches on its four walls can still be seen, and so does the arch above the entrance. Furthermore, the ''mihrab'' with its elaborate relief designs and the base of the demolished minaret inside the building are also still visible. The minaret, which once stood on the northwestern corner of the church/mosque, collapsed at the beginning of the twentieth century, and was never rebuilt.

References

Bibliography

* * * Katsarakis, Antonis (2022). "The Architectural Grid ofIbrahim Han Mosque in Réthymnon, Crete". ''Nexus Network Journal'' 24 (2022):203–216

External links

* {{Mosques in Greece Mosques converted from churches in Ottoman Greece Former mosques in Greece Ottoman mosques in Crete Former cathedrals Churches completed in 1583 16th-century architecture in Greece Mosque buildings with domes in Greece 17th-century architecture in Greece Buildings and structures in Rethymno (regional unit) Former churches in Greece Roman Catholic churches in Greece Mosque buildings with minarets in Greece

History

Architecture

See also

References

Bibliography

External links