Great Mosque of Tirana, Mosque in Tirana, Albania.
The Great Mosque of Tirana, also called the Namazgah Mosque, is a pale stone building with a grey-blue central dome 30 metres high and four minarets each 50 metres tall. Below the drum with arched windows runs a row of arched windows and a lower arcade of arched doorways. A sign on the right facade reads "Xhamia e Namazgjas". It holds 8,000 worshippers inside and 2,000 outside.
In 1992 President Sali Berisha laid the first stone near Namazgah Square, but the project stalled when parliamentary speaker Pjetër Arbnori opposed it. The decision to build was taken in 2010 by mayor Edi Rama, and construction launched in 2015 with €30 million, partly from Turkey's Diyanet. The mosque was officially opened on 10 October 2024, with speeches by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Edi Rama.
The mosque serves as a symbol of religious freedom and Islamic heritage revival in Albania, while also sparking debates about Turkish influence and national identity.
Located near Skanderbeg Square and the Albanian parliament, the mosque is accessible to visitors and offers daily prayer services with facilities for ablution and separate women's prayer areas.
Funded by Turkey at an estimated cost of €30 million, the mosque's construction and design have made it a focal point of geopolitical discussions about foreign influence in the Balkans.
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