Selimie Mosque

Remains of the Selimiye Mosque inside the mausoleum

The Selimie Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Selimies), or Church-Mosque of Lezha (Kisha-Xhami) is a ruined historic mosque where the remains of Skanderbeg were preserved in Lezhë, Albania.^[1] It is now used as Skanderbeg's Mausoleum in Lezhë, Albania.

There are plans of the Vatican to convert the mosque into a church.

History

The mosque was named after the Ottoman Sultan Selim I.

The ruins one featured a Dikka, a Mihrab, and the remains of a large Minaret. The mosque was built on the remains of a certain Saint Nicholas' Church. The trouble that Skanderbeg caused to the Ottoman Empire's military forces was such that when the Ottomans found the grave of Skanderbeg in the St. Nicolas they opened it and made amulets of his bones, believing that these would confer bravery on the wearer.^[2] The St. Nicolas' Church was rebuilt by the Ottomans elsewhere in return as a gesture of tolerance towards Christians.

The Selimiye mosque was one of the last buildings from the Middle Ages in Lezhë and did not survive during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, who destroyed all mosques in Lezhë. The minaret of the Selimie mosque was torn down as it happened with its dome. In 1981, the Skanderbeg Mausoleum opened here.

References

1. "Zani i Naltë". Muslim Community of Albania. p. 2. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
2. Gibbon, Edward (1901), The decline and fall of the Roman empire, P. F. Collier & Son, p. 466, OCLC 317326240

Coordinates: 41°46′57″N 19°38′35″E / 41.7825°N 19.6431°E