Muslim Mosques of Drama

The Muslim mosques of the city that are preserved today are the Eski Mosque (Agios Nikolaos), the Kursounlou Mosque (Holy Trinity), the Arab Mosque (courts square) and the Sandrivan Mosque, the building that later housed the newspaper “Tharros” (junction of Agamemnon and Armen streets).
Arab mosque
In the Administrative center of the old Muslim quarter of Drama – at the junction of M. Alexandrou, K. Palaiologou and L. Lambrianidou streets – we find one of the most important monuments of the city, the Arab Mosque. The sources identify this Mosque with the Ak Mehmet Agha Jamisi, one of the twelve mosques that existed in Drama in 1667. However, this identification is incorrect, as it is the “Arab Mosque”, a name found in the work of environmental education groups High schools of the city. The mosque in question was also called kanli – cami, i.e., the mosque of blood, since the Turks performed the custom of circumcision there.

The Arab Mosque was built in the years 1850-1875 and was one of the twenty-nine mosques at the end of the Turkish rule, it was located in the Bali Dervish Mahal, opposite the Turkish administration buildings, and it belonged to the sacred estates of the Muslim property. In 1922 it was sold to private individuals and functioned as a dance school, but it was looted during the Bulgarian occupation and after the liberation of Drama, it housed the city’s Conservatory. After changing a few owners, it was bought by the civil engineer Mr. Christos Kalogirou. In 1977 it was classified as a historic preserved monument and in 2001 it came under the jurisdiction of the Municipality of Drama to be turned into a cultural center.
The Arab Mosque belongs to the single-domed type with a front porch and its architecture classifies it in the third period 1730-1876. The building is stone-built, rectangular in shape, housed by an octagonal dome, which is covered with Byzantine-style tiles.
In the main building is the space with the atrium, which leads to the minaret, with an internal circular staircase to the exterior of the minaret, from where the muezzin called the faithful to prayer. On the wall of the southeast side of the mosque there is a small niche, the so-called mihrab, which “looks” in the direction of Mecca. The interior decoration of the mosque consists of frescoes on the inside and outside of the entrance.
Eski Mosque
The construction of the Eski Mosque, according to historians, is estimated at the end of the 17th century, because since then the city of Drama began to expand outside the Byzantine walls, a part of which is preserved today. Efstathios Kyriakidis, on his own initiative, took down the crescent moon from the dome of the mosque and placed a cross in its place. He also added a bell. The next day he performed the liturgy in the mosque and thus dedicated it to be used as a church, which he himself dedicated to Agios Nikolaos. That is why it was not then used as accommodation by refugees, as was done with other mosques.
Kursunlu Mosque
In the center of Drama and at the junction of Agamemnonos and Armen streets, a part of the Muslim Mosque is preserved, which served as the publication site of the Dramani newspaper “Tharros” until November 1, 1981, when publication was finally stopped. This is the so-called Kursunlu Mosque (also referred to elsewhere as Sadrivan Mosque), which was located in the Deboi district. Travelers who have visited the city from time to time do not mention it. It seems that it was a neighborhood mosque, of little importance for the time. Today it has been restored and its real beauty has been shown, thanks to the Drami businessman Mr. Apostolidis, who owns the well-known company Raycap.
It used to have a roof, probably a domed roof, which was lined with lead sheets, as its name shows (Koursounlou = lead roof).
In the center of its northern side and above the marble lintel of the entrance to the main area, its founding inscription is embedded. It is a rectangular relief that is decorated at both ends with embossed floral motifs of Islamic style. In the middle of it there is an Arabic Kufic inscription, with words taken from the Turkish and Arabic languages. It is distinguished by a tendency towards antiquity both in the choice of words and in the choice of plant decoration. Its text is divided into three columns, each consisting of six rectangular dividers.
The inscription proves that the Kursunlu Mosque was a typical mosque with a portico and a courtyard, it was renovated no later than 1807, the sponsor of the renovation was Mehmet Halil Aga, and at this time it was given to another mosque.