Valide Mosque, Mytilene, Ottoman mosque in Epano Skala district, Mytilene, Greece.

The Valide Mosque is a single-storey stone building with a pitched roof and symmetrical pairs of large windows with metal grilles and oval skylights on all four sides. Its red-stone minaret from Ayvalık has a hexagonal base and cylindrical shaft, and the interior preserves a five-arch arcade and a 6-metre mihrab with stucco decoration.

The building was constructed around 1615 during Ottoman rule and served as the main place of worship for the Muslim population. Its role ended with the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey.

Locals call it Valide Djami, from the Turkish Valide Camii, 'Mosque of the Valide Sultan', a title for the sultan's mother. The Greek name also records Balizade Hasan Bey. Under Ottoman rule the mosque complex housed a bathhouse and a religious school alongside the prayer hall.

The former mosque stands in Epano Skala, the old Turkish quarter, a short walk north of Mytilene's central waterfront. Renovation was completed in mid-July 2026, when the building reopened as a history museum, so access is no longer restricted by scaffolding. The minaret and building are protected monuments, so expect limited opening hours outside the summer season.

The ceiling of the prayer hall, not the mihrab, carried coloured frescoes; they were painted over in a dark pigment after the Muslim population left the island. The mihrab itself, about 6 metres high, is decorated in stucco.