[May 2024] Continuing with the city tour of Tirana, the capital of Albania.
Next we went to a mosque.
The mosque has a long name, Jamia Ethem Bey Mosque.
Construction began at the end of the 18th century and was completed in the early 19th century.
Opposite the mosque is a bell tower, and according to our guide Giorgio, the bells were used to announce the time to pray because the adhan could not be heard due to the hustle and bustle of the city.
We took off our shoes and entered the mosque.
The beautiful patterns filled the space, and it was so beautiful that I gasped.
On this trip, we had the opportunities to see both churches and mosques, but I generally think that the mosques were more beautiful.
It was explained to us that the patterns were imaginary, because it was blasphemous to draw humans and plants created by God.
There was some pictures of a town, but I wonder if that was okay.
This mosque was designated as a cultural property, and that is why it was spared from demolition during the communist era.
And on January 18, 1991, against the government’s wishes, 10,000 people gathered here, which marked the revival of religion and the beginning of the end of communism.
I found this information on the Internet, and to be honest, I was so busy taking photos that I didn’t really listen to what the guide was saying.
Anyway, it was worth taking photos.
This mosque is near Skanderbeg Square, and after leaving the mosque, we walked around the square.
According to Giorgio, this square has been remodelled every time the government changed, and originally it was a roundabout so cars could drive around it.
There was a time when there was a fountain.
Now it is just a vast marble square.
“In summer, the temperature here is 7 degrees higher than the surrounding area, so they had no choice but to make a system so that water flows on the ground,” Giorgio told us.
In front is the National Museum of History.
At the top of the building, there is a large painting of people.
In the middle is “Mother Albania,” surrounded by people dressed in clothes related to each era.
As soon as communism ended, the red star was erased and the book by Mao Zedong that the man was holding was replaced with a jacket.
It seemed to me that doing something like that in a history museum would be a falsification of history.
It was a national holiday and the museum was closed, so we didn’t go inside.
