EL-AATIK MOSQUE (ANCIENT)

Completely renovated a few years ago, it would have been built more than 400 years ago and rebuilt four times: It dates back to the Ottoman era. With its neighbour, the Othman mosque of which the minaret on the left is seen, these are the only two mosques of typical Ottoman architectural style from all over Libya. Their large central dome hosting a square prayer room supported by four pillars is the characteristic of this type of mosques. Very different are the Ottoman epoch of the Old town of Tripoli, which have many pillars in prayer rooms and are surmounted by multiple domes, a characteristic architectural characteristic of Libya and not Ottoman.

The mosque El-Aatik and the Othman Mosque were built in the second half of the th century by Rashid governor Rachid pasha (1882-1893) and his successor Taher pasha, while Benghazi was devoid of monuments and possessed only modest mosques on the terrace. Style did not have time to do school: Seven years after the government of Taher pasha, the Italians invaded Benghazi.