Et'hem Bey Mosque

Overlooking Skanderbeg Square in the heart of Tirana, this late 18th and early 19th-century mosque is among the oldest surviving buildings in the Albanian capital. Begun by Molla Bey and completed by his son Haxhi Ethem Bey, it is famous for the frescoes covering its porch and interior, which depict trees, waterfalls, bridges and other landscapes rarely seen in Islamic religious art. During the communist period the mosque was closed, and its 1991 reopening drew a huge crowd in a landmark moment for religious freedom.