Acrocorinth Mosque (Τζαμιού του Ακροκόρινθου)

By the Editors of the Madain Project

Originally built as a temple to Aphrodite, it was converted into a church and then subsequently a mosque. It's been suggested that St Paul may have preached here during his visit to Corinth. Located in the jumble of columns and architectural fragments found at the left of the main street, just inside the third gate of the fortifications.

Overview

The facade of the mosque had a centrally placed entrance door with two adjoining windows, while the mihrab is traced by the semicircular niche of the southern wall. The dimensions of the building are 8.50x9.50 meters. Evliya Celebi narrates, “...the Fethiye mosque was originally a Christian church, but was later converted to a mosque. In addition to these there are 2 neighborhood mosques, ...” It is located on the highest peak on the site was home to a temple to Aphrodite which was Christianized as a church, and then became a mosque.

Architecture

circa 150 CE

Qibla Wall
The southeast oriented Qibla wall of the mosque with mehrab (polygonal prayer niche covered in stalactite or honeycomb vaulting), crowned by a multi-foliate arch, is placed at the south wall designating the direction of prayer towards Mecca. Two windows are opened on either side of the mihrab, crowned with flattened pointed arches.

circa 150 CE

Masonry
The 0.70 meters thick masonry is composed of porous stone blocks, partially elaborated, while other materials, such as bricks, ceramic broken pieces of tiles, and wooden joints have been interspersed. The west wall is pierced for a window and is externally reinforced at the base of the talus of masonry.

circa 150 CE

Dome
Remains of the semispherical dome which covers the main prayer hall, part of it has though collapsed, resting on four squinches at the four corners. The minaret has a polygonal base, leading to a winding stairway. It has lost the biggest part of its shaft, the balcony, the upper body with its spire and no indication about their initial form.

circa 150 CE

Porch
Internal porche of the mosque. The mosque seems to have stood within a walled court, with a cloister-like series of rooms along its northern border. The surviving masonry walls, following the form of almost a square shaped building, allows the attribution of a common type of mosque ground floor plan, equipped with a portico.

circa 150 CE

Entrance
Looking northwest towards the entrance from within the main prayer hall of the Acrocorinth mosque, and the main door is crowned by a lower circular arch, formed by two rows of finely curved voussoirs (indication of possible Venetian intervention).

Acro-Corinth

circa 150 CE

Acrocorinth (Ακροκόρινθος) "Upper Corinth", the acropolis of ancient Corinth, is a monolithic rock overseeing the ancient city of Corinth, Greece. "It is the most impressive of the acropoleis of mainland Greece," in the estimation of George Forrest. The city's archaic acropolis, already an easily defensible position due to its geomorphology, was further heavily fortified during the Byzantine Empire as it became the seat of the strategos of the thema of Hellas and later of the Peloponnese. Afterwards it became a fortress of the Frankish Principality of Achaea, the Venetians and the Ottoman Turks.

Gallery

See Also

References

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