The Yeni Mosque ( el, Γενί Τζαμί, from tr, Yeni Camii, "New Mosque") is an Ottoman building in the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

town of

Komotini Komotini ( el, Κομοτηνή, tr, Gümülcine, bg, Комотини) is a city in the region of East Macedonia and Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Rhodope. It was the administrative centre of the Rhodope-Evros super-pr ...

dating back to 1585. It is the only surviving structure in Greece to feature

Iznik tiles Iznik pottery, or Iznik ware, named after the town of İznik in western Anatolia where it was made, is a decorated ceramic that was produced from the last quarter of the 15th century until the end of the 17th century. İznik was an established ...

from the 1580s, the zenith of the Iznik potters' art. The mosque is located in the center of Komotini, adjacent to the

Muftiate A muftiate (alternative spelling: muftiyat) bs, Muftijstvo or ; sq, Myftini; bg, мюфтийство; kk, мүфтият; russian: Муфтият; tt-Cyrl, мөфтият; ro, muftiat; uk, Муфтіят) is an administrative territorial en ...

Rhodope Prefecture Rhodope ( el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodópi'' ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of East Macedonia and Thrace. Its name is derived from the Rhodope Mountains, which cover the northern part of its territory. Together with ...

. Next to the Mosque is the Clock Tower and the Ottoman Turkish baths are found in neighboring areas. Ironically, the New Mosque was built before the Old Mosque of 1608.

History

Its founding is attributed to Ekmekçizade Ahmed Pasha who was the chief finance minister (''

defterdar This is a list of the top officials in charge of the finances of the Ottoman Empire, called ( Turkish for bookkeepers; from the Persian , + ) between the 14th and 19th centuries and ''Maliye Naziri'' (Minister of Finance) between 19th and 20th ...

'') in 1606-1613 of Sultan

Ahmet I Ahmed I ( ota, احمد اول '; tr, I. Ahmed; 18 April 1590 – 22 November 1617) was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1603 until his death in 1617. Ahmed's reign is noteworthy for marking the first breach in the Ottoman tradition of royal f ...

and of

Osman II Osman II ( ota, عثمان ثانى ''‘Osmān-i sānī''; tr, II. Osman; 3 November 1604 – 20 May 1622), also known as Osman the Young ( tr, Genç Osman), was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 162 ...

(1618-1622). The

külliye A külliye ( ota, كلية) is a complex of buildings associated with Turkish architecture centered on a mosque and managed within a single institution, often based on a waqf (charitable foundation) and composed of a madrasa, a Dar al-Shifa ("cl ...

of Ekmekçizade Ahmed included a

madrasah Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

, a double

hammam A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited f ...

(now in ruins) and a

mekteb A kuttab ( ar, كُتَّاب ''kuttāb'', plural: ''kataatiib'', ) or maktab ( ar, مَكْتَب) is a type of Primary school, elementary school in the Muslim world. Though the ''kuttab'' was primarily used for teaching children in reading, wri ...

. The current form of the mosque dates back to 1902. The mosque has a square prayer hall and has been architecturally influenced by the aesthetics of Greek

neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassicism was ...

. In the period 2007–8, the building was refurbished. It is in active service as a place of Muslim worship, serving the large Muslim community of Komotini (''Gümülcine'' in Turkish).

Sources

* Ottoman Thrace Buildings and structures in Komotini Ottoman mosques in Greece 16th-century mosques Mosque buildings with domes {{europe-mosque-stub

History

See also

Sources