Carol I Mosque Constanta

About Carol I Mosque Constanta

The Carol I Mosque is located on Arhiescopiei Street no 5 (Ovid Square) and it is the main cultural Muslim edifice from Constanta.

The Carol I Mosque from Constan?a was built between 1910 and 1912 and it was a gift from King Carol I, offered as a tribute for the Muslim community from Dobruja. The mosque was afterwards renamed the Mahmud II Mosque, but currently, the Muslim believers call it 'Kral camisi' or 'the king's mosque'.

The mosque, erected where it used to be the former Mahmudia Mosque, was built following the sketches of engineer Gogu Constantinescu and under the guidance of architect Victor ?tef?nescu. The mosque is built in Arab-Byzantine style, with Romanian architectural motifs, and it is an exact copy of the Konia Mosque from Anatolia, Turkey.

The minaret, built in a Moor style, is 47 meters high and its interior staircase, leading to the muezzin's dwelling, from where it used to be announced, in the past, the prayer time, has 140 stairs.

The mosque's interior shelters a famous oriental carpet, donated by Turkey. The carpet is native from the Ada Kaleh Island (destroyed by the communists and sunk in the Danube)and it is more than 200 years old. The huge carpet (9 m x 16 m, a total of 144 square meters) weights more than 490 Kg and it was hand made in the renowned handicraft centre of Hereke, Turkey.

The mosque has a beautiful interior mural painting featuring the colours blue, green and cream, which is worth seeing.

Carol I Mosque can be visited.