Eid prayers are held at former mosque in Greece for 1st time in 100 years

The Stars of David adorning the balconies alongside the highest of the constructing catch the primary glimmers of the daybreak mild as worshipers cross by way of the gates of the historic Yeni Cami, or New Mosque, for morning prayers. Wednesday marked the primary time because the Nineteen Twenties that the constructing – initially erected for a neighborhood of Jewish converts to Islam at a time when town of Thessaloniki was a cultural melting pot throughout the Ottoman Empire – was getting used for mass prayers throughout Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim vacation on the finish of the monthlong fasting interval of Ramadan.

“This can be a stunning factor, it is the primary time we really feel this, we did not even know this mosque existed,” stated Ismael Bedredin, a member of Greece‘s Muslim minority who was amongst about 70 worshipers on the morning prayers. “Regardless that I have been dwelling right here for 63 years, it is the primary time I see it. …. We had been advised it is opening its gates for the primary time in 100 years, and that’s an exceptionally stunning factor.”

Inbuilt 1902 by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli, the landmark constructing tucked down a slender road within the middle of town stopped getting used as a mosque within the Nineteen Twenties.

The neighborhood it was constructed for – Jewish converts to Islam often known as Donmeh – had been caught up within the 1923 forcible inhabitants change between Greece and Turkey, when Muslims dwelling in Greece had been despatched to Turkey in change for Orthodox Christians dwelling in Turkey. Like many mosques in Greece, the constructing’s use modified a number of instances over the a long time. It briefly served as a shelter for refugees from the inhabitants change earlier than being transformed into an archaeological museum, which it remained for practically the subsequent 40 years.

The opening of the Yeni Cami for Ramadan prayers sends “an excellent message, which is there is no such thing as a contradiction being Muslims and being residents,” stated Taha Abdelgalil, the imam who led the prayer. “There isn’t a contradiction between opening such (a) historic place and in the identical time being pleased with the historical past of the nation and its independence.”

The operation of mosques in Greece has typically been controversial. The nation’s inhabitants is overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian, with the Muslim neighborhood largely consisting of migrants and guests, in addition to a small Muslim minority in northeastern Greece who had been exempt from the 1923 inhabitants change. Within the Greek capital, Athens, Muslims had relied on casual prayer rooms till 2020, when town’s first state-sponsored mosque first started working. Thessaloniki’s Yeni Cami, a two-story constructing, combines Islamic custom with the architectural developments of the flip of the earlier century, with a nod to the previous Jewish religion of its authentic neighborhood: six-pointed Stars of David adorn each the outside balconies and far of the inside.

Restored in 1986, the constructing, which options clock towers on its corners, now serves as a municipal cultural exhibition venue. Employees lined shows that had been a part of an exhibition forward of Wednesday’s prayers.

About 70 worshipers – a mixture of visiting vacationers from Turkey, members of Greece’s Muslim minority, abroad college students learning in Thessaloniki and refugees who now name the northern Greek metropolis house – attended the Eid prayers.

Indonesian scholar Prasherly Anura Dinda, 21, wasn’t conscious of the constructing’s historical past however was glad to have someplace to hope for Ramadan within the metropolis the place she is learning for a Grasp’s diploma.

“I am so grateful as a result of it’s miles from my hometown however right here I can really feel … the heat of Ramadan,” she stated.

Hilmi Yasaroglou, one other member of Greece’s Muslim minority, stated he was overjoyed to have the ability to pray in Yeni Cami when it hadn’t been used as a mosque for therefore lengthy. “We’re very glad,” he stated. “Could we have now peace amongst us and no hostility.”