Suleiman Mosque

Various architectural elements about this building – namely its dimensions, the thickness of its walls and the location of the minaret, on the south-western flank – suggest the Suleiman Mosque to have been built sometime during the rule of Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1566), although certain features around it – such as the ablutions fountain, set within the Mosque’s courtyard – are estimated to have been later additions.
Set on top of Socratous street, this Mosque has in all probability been built on the site previously occupied by the church of the Holy Apostles. The construction was endowed with two porches and two square-form, cupola-topped distinct spaces flanking the main hall of prayer. Both the central cupola – rising 15m. above ground – and the lateral ones are covered with lead sheets. Through to the ‘60s, the Mosque’s floor used to be covered in marble plates. The minaret that used to stand next to the hall of prayer – part of which has been removed for safety reasons, given certain static problems of the construction – originally rose more than 24 m. above ground. There is a single, renaissance style marble sculpture ornating the entrance to the northern porch of the Mosque with much speculation still about as to whether it was integrally created on the site or if part of it was created and carried from elsewhere.