Conversion of mosques into non-Islamic places of worship

The conversion of mosques into non-Islamic places of worship has occurred for centuries. The most prominent examples of such took place after and during the Reconquista.^[1]

Conversion of mosques into churches

This table lists former mosques with identified original buildings or ruins. It also includes those churches where the original structure of the mosque no longer survives and the church was built at the site of a former mosque. It also includes those that were originally churches that were converted to mosques and later reconverted to churches.

Current Name	Mosque Name	Images	City	Country	Year Opened	Year Closed	Notes	Ref.
Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba	Great Mosque of Córdoba (Qurṭuba), Aljama Mosque		Córdoba	Spain	early 8th century	1236	After the Muslim conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom (710~), the site of former main Visigothic church of Cordoba was divided and shared between Muslims and Christians for seven decades. Later, Abd al-Rahman I purchased the Christian part and built the large mosque in 785.[2] Major extensions were added in the 9th and 10th centuries until a final extension in the 10th century under Almanzor. After Christians recaptured Cordoba in 1236, King Ferdinand III of Castile converted the mosque into a cathedral. Later, a cathedral was built at the center of the old mosque, configuring the current Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. It was the second largest mosque in the world after Great Mosque in Makkah from the around 9th century, until the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, Istanbul was built in 1588. It had a surface area of 23,400 square metres (2.34 ha) and accommodated an estimated 32,000 to 40,000 worshipers. The current mosque structure dates from 784 to 987.[3]	[3][4]
Mosque of Cristo de la Luz	Mezquita Bab-al-Mardum		Toledo	Spain	999	1186	Converted into a church. One of the best preserved Moorish mosques in Spain.[3]	[3][4]
Giralda	Great Mosque of Seville		Seville	Spain		1248	Only minaret remains. Mosque comparable in size to Great mosque of Cordoba, destroyed by earthquake in 1365. Minaret used as a church bell tower was built higher in 16th century.	[3]
Almonaster la Real Mosque			Almonaster la Real	Spain	10th century		Built on site of 5th-century Visigoth basilica. Converted into a church after Reconquista. National Monument since 1931.	[3][4]
Mezquita del Alcázar de Jerez la Frontera			Jerez de la Frontera (Jerez)	Spain	11th century	mid 13th century	Located within former Moorish fortress of Alcazar of Jerez de la Frontera. Only surviving mosque building of 18 former mosques in the Jerez city. Converted into a church after Reconquista.	[3][4]
Mosque of las Tornerías	Al-Mustimim		Toledo	Spain	1060[5]		Unusual two-storied mosque. Was built in a busy commercial neighborhood (Arrabal de Francos). Used as a church until 1498-1505, and other uses since. Restoration and preservation done recently.	[4][5][6]
Mezquita de Tórtoles			Tarazona	Spain		15th century	Mosque remains almost not altered in the later centuries. Current building was built in 2 stages, one early 15th century, other late 15th century. It is attached to the remains of the old fortified tower of town castle. Converted into a church in 1526.	[7]
Aljama Mosque of Medina Azahara	Aljama Masjid of Madinat al-Zahra		Córdoba	Spain	940	1010	A mosque in Madinat al-Zahra, a vast, fortified Moorish palace-city built by Abd-ar-Rahman III (912–961). The marbled, jeweled complex was plundered & destroyed first by Muslims, then by Christians when the civil war ended the Caliphate of Córdoba. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 2018.	[8]
San Sebastián de Toledo	Al-Dabbagin Masjid		Toledo	Spain		1085~	Converted into a church after the 1085 Christian conquest of the area. Renovated several times but the original interior structure remains. The building is now used as a concert & exhibition hall. Belltower built in the 15th century shows characteristics of a former minaret. Ruins of Arab Baths of Tenerías remain lower below on slope.[9] A short reference to mosque exists by Ibn Baskuwal (1101–83) reported by Fath ibn Ibrahim.[10]	[9][10]
Small Royal mosque inside Aljafería Palace			Zaragoza	Spain	10th century		Located inside the great fortified palace. A small octagonal mosque, designed as a private oratory for the king and his family. Mosque architecture inspired by the Córdoba mosque. Aljafería is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1986.[11]	[11]
Mezquita-Iglesia de El Salvador, Toledo			Toledo	Spain	9th century	1085	Mosque built on former Visigoth or Roman substrate. Now a rebuilt church but excavations revealed 9th-century structures & elements of a mosque - horseshoe arch arcade, primitive stone minaret, flooring, courtyard with a cistern.[12][13]	[12][13]
Alminar de Árchez, Alminar Mudéjar (Mudejar Minaret of Árchez)	Masyid al-Ta`ibin, Mezquita de los Conversos[14][circular reference] (Mosque of convert)		Árchez	Spain		14th century	Only 15-meter tall minaret remains, used as the belfry of Árchez church built on mosque location. The minaret is an Almohade architecture monument and the only remaining jewel of the Nazarí period.[15]	[15]
San Sebastian Minaret (Alminar De San Sebastian)			Ronda	Spain		1485	Only minaret of the medium-size mosque in Plaza Abul Beka neighborhood remains. Minaret was expanded and used as a bell tower. The mosque was converted to a church but destroyed in the 1600s during Morisco Revolts. Ronda was a Muslim city for 700 years. The city had 7 or 8 mosques, none survive today.[16]	[16]
Alminar de San Juan (Minaret of San Juan)			Córdoba	Spain	930		Only minaret remains of the mosque built in 930 during 1st Spanish Umayyad caliph 'Abd al-Rahman III. Now it's the belfry of San Juan church.[17]	[17]
Iglesia de Santiago del Arrabal, Toledo			Toledo	Spain			Converted to a church in 1223-25. Caliphate era minaret survives. The church is a Mudéjar style masterpiece, built in 1245-47 on prior structures of a mosque and Visigoth building.[18]	[18]
Church of Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación (Benaque, Macharaviaya)			Macharaviaya	Spain			One of few preserved mosques with original minaret and solid block building built of brick & masonry. Interior single rectangular prayer hall now a church nave. Drilling Mecca facing wall in 2003 showed original mosque construction and 19th-century work. Reconquista era document says "...While it was the visitation and reformation of the houses in the alcayua (or alamiya) in Benaque, the inhabitants used mosque as a parish church, where they had images and heard Mass...".[19][20]	[19]
Church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação	Aljama mosque of Martulah		Mértola (Alentejo)	Portugal	9th Century		Best identifiable and unique former mosque in Portugal; a mixture of Almohad and Manueline post-Gothic architecture. The mosque was last rebuilt in the second half of 12th century but some elements date to the 9th century. In 1532 the, church modified the mosque building reducing its size from 6 sections & 20 columns to 4 sections & 12 columns.[21][22]
Church of São Clemente (Loulé)			Loulé (Algarve)	Portugal	11th Century		Only some parts of the original minaret of a former mosque exist, used as a church bell tower. It's 22.7 meters tall and 4.2 meters across. The church was built in the 13th century and is the oldest in Loulé. Across it lies the old Arab cemetery of Jardim dos Amuados. The square plan and misalignment in the orientation of the church building also indicate the presence of a former mosque.[23][24]
Igreja de Santa Maria do Castelo (Tavira)			Tavira (Algarve)	Portugal	12th Century		A mosque stood at the highest point within the fortified Medina of Tavira on the location where the Church of Santa Maria stands. Recent excavations unearthed rubbish heaps with 11-12th century materials and dwellings from the first half of the 12th century. A slight canonical disorientation of the church is indicative of the structure originally being a mosque. In 1718, a tomb was found with a corpse accompanied by a Moorish Alfange blade.[25][26]
Downtown Candlemas Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Mosque of Pasha Qasim		Pécs	Hungary	16th Century	1702	The current building, a hundred steps in length and in width, was built by Pasha Qasim the Victorious between 1543 and 1546. The mosque was converted to a church in 1702, after Habsburg-Hungarian troops reconquered the city. The minaret was destroyed by the Jesuits in 1766. One of the largest Ottoman constructions remaining in Hungary, the building still retains many Turkish architectural characteristics.	[27]
Shrine of Our Lady of Europe			Europa Point	Gibraltar		1309	The mosque was built by Muslim troops at Europa Point, the southernmost part of Gibraltar. In 1309, King Ferdinand IV of Castile took Gibraltar, driving the Muslim troops back across the strait to Africa. The King converted the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine. The Muslims again captured Gibraltar 24 years later in 1333. In 1462 King Henry IV recaptured Gibraltar and restored the devotion to Our Lady of Europe initiated by his grandfather, Ferdinand, once again transforming the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine.	[28]
Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned			Gibraltar	Gibraltar		1462	The current cathedral stands at the site of the principal mosque in the center of the city. After the reconquest of the city, the mosque was stripped of its Islamic past and consecrated as the parish church (named Santa Maria la Coronada y San Bernardo). However, under the rule of the Catholic Monarchs, the old building was demolished and a new church was erected, in Gothic style. The cathedral's small courtyard is the remnant of the larger Moorish court of the mosque.	[29][30]
Seven Saints Church	Black Mosque		Sofia	Bulgaria	1528	1878	The Black Mosque was built on the order of Suleiman the Magnificent with the intention to be more impressive and beautiful than the Christian churches in the city. The mosque is popularly attributed to the famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, although this is uncertain. The mosque is called the Black Mosque, after the dark granite from which its minaret was made.	[31]
Church of the Assumption			Uzundzhovo	Bulgaria	16th Century	1878	The mosque is believed to have been built by celebrated Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan and was originally a part of a caravanserai. It was consecrated into a church in 1906.	[32][33]
Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel			Brăila	Romania	17th Century	19th Century	Originally built by the Ottomans, it was converted into a church after the transfer of the city to Wallachia following the Treaty of Adrianople.
Saint Nicholas Church	Ibrahim Pasha Mosque		Kavala	Greece	1530	1920s	The mosque was built in 1530 by Ibrahim Pasha, the Vizier of Suleiman II and was the largest mosque of Kavala. In the 1920s the mosque was transformed into a church and the base of the minaret was used to build the bell tower.	[34]

Conversion of mosques into temples

This table lists former mosques with identified original buildings that have been converted into temples. It also includes those temples where the original structure of the mosque no longer survives and the temple was built at the site of a former mosque.

Current Name	Mosque Name	Images	City	Country	Notes
Ram Janmabhoomi Temple	Babri Masjid		Ayodhya	India	The 16th-century mosque built on the hypothesized birthplace of Rama under the reign of and named after Mughal Emperor Babur was demolished in 1992 by a mob of Hindu nationalists. In 2019, after a verdict by the Supreme Court of India, the decision to construct a temple at the site of the demolished mosque was accepted by the Indian parliament. Archeological Survey of India did excavations and revealed that there was a temple complex underneath the Mosque[35]
Durga Mandir	Jama Masjid of Sonipat		Sonipat	India	The imposing structure is currently being used as a Durga Mandir.[36]
Ram Leela Mandir	Jama Masjid of Farrukhnagar		Farrukhnagar	India	Mughal Emperor Farrukhsiyar had the Jama Masjid constructed as the principal mosque of Farrukhnagar town, which he founded in 1732 CE. It is now being used as a Hindu temple and Sikh Gurdwara.[37][36]
Bharat Mata Mandir	Khilij Jumma Masjid		Daulatabad (Aurangabad)	India	The Jumma Masjid is the earliest surviving Islamic monument in the Deccan region.[36][38]
Bhagwan Danasher Mandir	Dana Shir Masjid		Hisar	India	The mosque is built to the west of the courtyard of the Tomb of Dana Shir Bahlul Shah. It is completely built of small bricks and is plastered with fine white stucco.[36][39]

Conversion of mosques into gurdwaras

This table lists former mosques with identified original buildings that have been converted into Sikh gurdwaras.

Conversion of mosques into synagogues

This table lists former mosques with identified original buildings that have been converted into synagogues.

See also

• Conversion of non-Islamic places of worship into mosques
• Conversion of non-Hindu places of worship into temples

References