The Halil Bey Complex

Kavala, Greece

contains the mosque of Halil Bey dated at the beginning of the 20th century, an older minaret on the side probably of the 16th century and a medrese. The mosque is built over the foundation of an early Christian basilica. Under the modern glass floor a big part of the nave of the old church with the Byzantine floor can be seen.At the beginning of 16th century the Byzantine church was converted to a mosque. It became the center of one of the oldest Muslim neighborhoods of Kavala, that of Halil Bey. From the Early Ottoman period survived the base of the minaret, which was attached to the southern wall of the Late Byzantine chapel. To the north of the mosque a medrese (Koranic seminary) was erected. The early Ottoman mosque was replaced at the beginning of the 20th century by a new one with the correct orientation towards Mecca. Its rich interior decoration is in the Ottoman-Rococo style.