Bahr Mosque in Acre

Acre, Israel

The location of al-Bahr Mosque (from Arabic: Sea Mosque), free standing and abutting the port of Acre, makes it one of the most unique mosques in Acre, especially when viewed from the sea. Its nicely proportioned rectangular façade is topped with a dome and a minaret. The mosque occupies a rectangular plan that is divided into a courtyard and a prayer hall. The prayer hall is a square domed room preceded by a triple bayed arcade. The central bay is topped with a small dome, while the side bays are cross-vaulted.

The Sea Mosque was the first mosque built after the Mamluks conquered Acre from the Crusaders in 1291. During this battle Acre suffered the pains of war, and later the vast intentional demolition by the Mamluks who wanted to destroy the capital of the Crusaders Kingdom to an extent that would continue to deter and prevent Europeans from re-invading the Holy Land from the sea, as was the fate of many other coastal cities.

The city that stood in desolation for many decades slowly and gradually recovered, and in 1586 the Ottoman Grand Vizier, Sinan Pasha built this mosque. The mosque was originally named the Sinan Pasha mosque, a name still used sometimes. The building formed the main part of a complex that included a madrasa and a khan (now known as Khan al-Ifranj). The mosque was largely destroyed during al-Jazzar's rule but was rebuilt by Ibrahim Pasha in 1816.


Sources:

Dichter, Bernhard. 2000. Akko-Sites from the Turkish Period. Haifa: University of Haifa, 87-94.

Petersen, Andrew. 2001. A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Part 1.Oxford: Oxford University Press, 79-81.