Church of Saint Nicholas, Lezhë

The Church of Saint Nicholas, former Selimije Mosque (Albanian: Xhamia e Selimies), or Church-Mosque of Lezhë (Kisha-Xhami) is a ruined historic church and mosque where the remains of Skanderbeg are said to be preserved in Lezhë, Albania. It is now used as Skanderbeg's Mausoleum in Lezhë, Albania.[1]

For other uses, see Selimiye Mosque (disambiguation).
Remains of the Church inside the mausoleum

History
The original Selimie mosque in 1917
The "Gaviarivs" engraved stone at the entrance of the castle.

Originally, the building was a church, named after Saint Nicholas. A fresco of the saint is still present in the remains of the church, although heavily damaged. The Church was located in the interior part of an Illyrian City which was later reconstructed by the Romans, in the 1st century BC. Evidence for this is the "Gaviarius" (Gaviarivs) Stone in front of the entrance, which was unearthed during the Archaeological Excavations in 1975-1980 by Frano Prendi and Koço Zheku.

When the Ottomans conquered Albania, they plundered the church and turned it into a mosque, by adding a dikka, a mihrab and a large minaret. The mosque was named after the Ottoman Sultan Selim I. The trouble that Skanderbeg caused to the Ottoman Empire's military forces was such that when the Ottomans found the grave of Skanderbeg in the St. Nicolas they opened it and made amulets of his bones, believing that these would confer bravery on the wearer.[2] The St. Nicolas' Church was rebuilt by the Ottomans elsewhere in return as a gesture of tolerance towards Christians.

The Selimiye mosque was one of the last buildings from the Middle Ages in Lezhë and did not survive during the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, who destroyed all mosques in Lezhë. The minaret of the Selimie mosque was torn down. In 1981, the Skanderbeg Mausoleum opened here.

Restoration

In early 2018 restoration projects for the Mausoleum were announced and began in June 2018. Restoration has now finished.

References
  1. "Zani i Naltë". Muslim Community of Albania. p. 2. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
  2. Gibbon, Edward (1901), The decline and fall of the Roman empire, P. F. Collier & Son, p. 466, OCLC 317326240

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