Bayrakli Mosque, Chios

The Bayrakli Mosque (Μπαϊρακλί Τζαμί, from Bayraklı Camii, meaning "mosque of the flag-bearer") also known as the Hamidiye Mosque (Τζαμί Χαμηδιέ) is a historical mosque from the Ottoman period in the island of Chios, in Greece. It is one of the three surviving mosques on the island, the other two being the Osmaniye Mosque and the Mecidiye Mosque.

History


Per the marble inscription above the doorframe, the mosque's construction started in 1891-92 by order of Sultan Abdülhamit II, back when Chios was part of the Ottoman Empire and the Vilayet of the Archipelago.

The Bayrakli mosque is located inside the fortress of the old town Chios, in Saint George Street, on the location of the ancient city of Chios. Several materials taken from ancient buildings were used for its construction, while according to a local legend part of it was built on the site of and old Genoese Catholic church; however such tale is not confirmed from any historiography.

Following the Armenian Genocide, the Treaty of Lausanne and the exchange of populations between Turkey and Greece in the early twentieth century, the building no longer functioned as a mosque but housed a displaced Armenian family, whose initials that they carved in the stone can still be seen. It was eventually sold to a bank, which donated it to the Greek Ministry of Culture.

The Greek Ministry of Culture registered the building on March 5 1999, and for some time, it functioned as a repair shop for electronic devices. Renovations works on the mosque began in 2018 and finished in 2023, when the mosque was made available to the public once more as a monument.

Although there have been calls for the mosque to be given to the Muslim community as a praying center, so such measures have been implemented yet.

Architecture
The mosque has a rectangular floor plan and covered with a roof, while the main prayer area was torn down. Above the mihrab, the panel reads "Küllema dehale aleyha Zekeriyya el-mihrab" ("each time Zacharias goes in the altar where Mary takes place"), referring to Virgin Mary and the visits of High Priest Zacharias to Solomon's Temple.

During the renovation works that were completed by 2023, large parts of the interior decoration were reconstructed, while the exterior was systematically preserved.

The Bayrakli Mosque was built during the same time as another Ottoman mosque in Chios, the Osmaniye Mosque, and thus shares some similarities in architectural style.