AHMED PASHA QARAMANLI MOSQUE

It is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful, mosques in all of Libya. With the Gourgi Mosque, it is the most decorated in the country and its plan and its great minaret make it one of the country's major Islamic buildings. It was built in 1738 by Ahmed pasha, the founder of the Qaramanli dynasty, which controlled the country from 1835 to 1711. The tomb of Ahmed pasha is next to the mosque, behind a arched door. Several members of the Qaramanli family are buried near the mosque, under its column portico. The ornamentation of the mosque is of Maghreb inspiration (Tunisian and Algerian). Painted ceramic tiles decorated with floral motifs decorate the exterior facades and the walls of the prayer room over a height of 3 m. Above, plaster panels are sculpted with geometric motifs. The building also has ornamentations in black and white marble. In the prayer room of 23 m ², 16 columns support 25 domes. The roofs of multiple domes are characteristic of the Libyan mosques. The mosque also has a madrasas (Koranic school) dating back to the same time.