Tzistarakis Mosque

In front of you is one of the few Ottoman mosques left in Athens. It was built in 1759 by Mustafa Agha Tzistarakis, the voivode, or Ottoman governor, of the city. And with it came one of the darkest stories of the neighbourhood.

1The cursed column

To obtain lime for the building, the governor is said to have had an ancient column burned. Athenian tradition insists he took it from the Temple of Olympian Zeus; some researchers think it more likely came from nearby Hadrian's Library. Destroying antiquities without permission was illegal even for a governor, and Tzistarakis was removed from office.

That same year, an outbreak of plague struck the city. Many Athenians, Christians and Muslims alike, linked it to the sacrilege: they said that by pulling down the column, the governor had set free the spirits that dwelt in it.

His dismissal is a fact; the column that unleashed the plague belongs to the memory of the neighbourhood.

2A mosque of many lives

After independence the building lost its minaret and served as a storehouse, a barracks and a prison. In March 1834 it even hosted a ball in honour of King Otto. Since 1918 it has been a museum, and today it holds the Kyriazopoulos pottery collection of the Museum of Greek Folk Art.

3What to look for

• The dome over the square main hall, typical of Ottoman mosques.
• The arcaded porch on the façade, roofed with small domes.
• Hadrian's Library, to the left, where the column may have come from.