Kavala, Halil Bey Câmii

The mosque in the castle of Kavala is also known as Kutup Mosque or Alaca Mosque. Built in the 16th century, the monument, together with the singlestorey madrasah next to it, is recorded in Prme Ministry Archives, on p. 100, dated 1217. Halil Bey also built a mosque and madrasah in Drama. The mosque consists of a square domed harim and the narthex covered with tiles. The minaret is in the northwest, separate from the main structure. In 1912, claiming that it used to be a church, the Bulgarians demolished the cone of the minaret and hung a cross on it. In his diary of the Balkan Wars, the archaeologist Bogdan Filov writes that he visited Alaca Mosque on January 31, 1913 and that the Greeks falsely claimed that this building had previously been a church. For many years, the narthex was converted into a house and used as a residence, while both the mosque and the madrasah were repaired with EU funds. The minaret was demolished, but its base still remains.