Al-Bahr Mosque, Ottoman mosque in Jaffa, Israel.
Al-Bahr Mosque is a mosque in the old port of Jaffa, a historic coastal neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, Israel, standing directly on the Mediterranean shore. It is built from kurkar, a local sandstone made from compressed sea sediments, and has a single minaret along with Ottoman stone carvings on its facade.
The mosque was built in 1675 by the Azza family, making it one of the oldest surviving places of worship in the Jaffa area. It has stood through several centuries of changing rule over the city, from the Ottoman period through to the modern era.
The name Al-Bahr means "the sea" in Arabic, a direct reference to the water just steps away from the entrance. Fishermen from the old port have historically stopped here to pray before and after heading out to sea, and some still do today.
The mosque is in the old port area of Jaffa and can be reached on foot through the narrow lanes of the neighborhood. Because it is an active place of worship, visitors should dress modestly and plan their visit outside prayer times.
Above the entrance, an inscription carved into the kurkar stone names the founding family and includes a classical Islamic prayer. This kind of dedicatory carving is common in Ottoman religious buildings, but rarely survives this intact on such a small coastal structure.
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