How a mosque was almost built in Athens in the 1890's

In the early 1890's, the Greek government decided to build a new mosque in Athens as the two old ones in the city were being used for other purposes.

The main aim was to cast Greece, still a young modern country at the time, as a tolerant and inclusive society.

The press questioned the need to build one as there was no longer a sizeable Muslim community in Athens.

The Ottoman government agreed to pay for the cost of construction, offering by way of reciprocity, land for the erection of churches within the Ottoman empire.

The Greek government provided land for the new mosque and cemetery at Vavoula in Piraeus.

In the end the mosque was never built.

The money provided by the Ottomans was misappropriated and the issue was forgotten after Greece's bankruptcy in 1893.

By Konstantinos Kalymnios.

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