An impressive monument, highly representative for the Muslim arts, built in Mauro style, the Esmahan Sultan Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Romania and the only medieval monument of Mangalia.
During the 16th century, the princess Esma, daughter of Selim II (1566-1574) and wife of the high vizier Sokollu-Mehmet Pasha (1565-1579), took refuge to Mangalia.
The Esmahan Sultan Mosque was built in 1573 or in 931 according to the Muslim calendar Hadjira, in the memory of Solyman II, one of the greatest rulers of the Ottoman Empire of that time, by his daughter. In the courtyard of the mosque
there is a number of tombs where high-rank persons of the time were buried.,
The building is made of stone cut in place by the Turkish stone masons, and its walls are 85 cm thick. lťs worth mentioning that the stone masonry was made without any binding material, using only cramp irons cast on the spot in the holes made in stones. The same technology was used for the building of the minaret of which slenderness and ideal proportions are ensured by the finely cut stone.
In 1452, when Dobrogea got under the Ottoman domination, and the Turkish, Tartar, Bulgarian, Circassian, Gagauz, Greek and Jewish peoples became a mixture of religious beliefs, the famous Turkish traveler, Evlia Celebi, mentioned, .....go to Mangalia, which is the Kaaba-Mecca of the wandering and poor people.
