Ancient stones
From Callatis ruins.
Leontin l — CC BY-SA 3.0 ro · Leontin l — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Leontin l — CC BY-SA 3.0 ro · Leontin l — CC BY-SA 3.0 ro · Visem — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Esmahan Sultan Mosque is the oldest mosque in Romania, in the seaside town of Mangalia in Constanța County, southeast Romania, about 39 km south of Constanța in a straight line. It serves some 800 Muslim families, most of them Turkish and Tatar. It was built in 1575 by Ismihan Sultan, daughter of the Ottoman Sultan Selim II and Nurbanu Sultan and wife of the Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. It was renovated in the 1990s, and a graveyard with tombstones more than 300 years old surrounds it. Turkish craftsmen built it of cut stone salvaged from the ruins of ancient Callatis; the blocks were laid without any binder, held instead by cast-iron cramps set into holes drilled in the stone. Oak posts stand at the entrance and a slender stone minaret rises at its side. Inside it is plain and free of paintings, with a finely crafted wooden ceiling, and the minbar and mihrab on the wall facing the door. Visitors stroll the quiet garden around the mosque among the old tombstones, then step into the prayer hall laid with red carpet. It is still a place of prayer, so respect prayer times and dress modestly.
From Callatis ruins.
Fine craftsmanship.
300-year-old stones.
Mangalia, Constanța County, Romania
Ismihan Sultan, daughter of Sultan Selim II.
Modest clothing.