ARAP AHMET MOSQUE

The most notable of the mosques built by the Turks in Nicosia is the Arap Ahmet Mosque. The mosque, like many others, was constructed on the site of an old Latin church. Among the marble floor tiles of the mosque are around 25 tombstones with epitaths and drawings. The mosque was named after one of the generals of the Turkish army during the conquest of the island. It is a good example of classical Turkish mosque architecture. It has an arched terrace and a dome six metres in diameter. The garden with graves belonging to Turks have been preserved in good condition. It is a special corner of Nicosia with its fountain, cypress trees and graves. Among the graves is the grave of Kamil Pasha, born in 1832 in Nicosia, who rose to the rank of Grand Vizier in the Ottoman Empire 4 times. Kamil Pasha died in Nicosia in 1913 and was buried in the courtyard of the mosque. In 1927, Sir Ronald Storss, the governor of Cyprus between 1926-1931, had a tomb made for Kamil Pasha with a panel in Turkish and English placed on it.