The Azizyie Mosque ( ro, Moscheea Azizyie) is a mosque located at 2 Independenței Street in

Tulcea Tulcea (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in Northern Dobruja, Romania. It is the administrative center of Tulcea County, and had a population of 73,707 . One village, Tudor Vladimirescu, is administered by the city. Names The ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, in the

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...

region. It was built in 1863, during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz, to whom it is dedicated and after whom it is named. Among the largest mosques built by the Ottoman Empire in Dobruja, it is made of cut stone 85 cm thick. It has 32 windows, of which 18 are on the upper part, ensuring natural lighting for the interior terrace that surrounds the building on three sides. From the period when the mosque was founded, a Turkish school functioned adjacent to the mosque; dating to 1865, it is now closed. The current minaret dates to 1897. By that time, Dobruja was part of the

Romanian Old Kingdom The Romanian Old Kingdom ( ro, Vechiul Regat or just ''Regat''; german: Regat or ) is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Romanian Principalities: Wallachia ...

, and the minaret was rebuilt using funds supplied by the Religious Affairs and Public Instruction Ministry."Geamia / Moscheea Azizyie, Tulcea"
at the Tulcea County Council site The mosque was indirectly benefited by the raids of the Circassians of Dobruja. Having been settled in the region in 1864 following the

Circassian genocide The Circassian genocide, or Tsitsekun, was the Russian Empire's systematic mass murder, ethnic cleansing, and expulsion of 80–97% of the Circassian population, around 800,000–1,500,000 people, during and after the Russo-Circassian War ( ...

, they would come into conflict with several of the native peoples and carry out raids against them. They would later give part of the profits they made through these raids to the Ottoman authorities, which would spend some of them on the Azizyie Mosque and the modern Tulcea Art Museum. The Dobrujan Circassians were expelled after the signing of the

Treaty of San Stefano The 1878 Treaty of San Stefano (russian: Сан-Стефанский мир; Peace of San-Stefano, ; Peace treaty of San-Stefano, or ) was a treaty between the Russian and Ottoman empires at the conclusion of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-18 ...

. The mosque and the former school are listed as

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

s by Romania's Ministry of Culture and Religious Affairs.Lista Monumentelor Istorice 2010: Județul Tulcea
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References

1863 establishments in the Ottoman Empire Historic monuments in Tulcea County Mosques completed in 1863 Ottoman mosques in Romania Tulcea {{Romania-religious-struct-stub

See also

References