Athens Opens First Mosque in 200 Years

Athens opens the first government-funded mosque in 200 years after several failed attempts. (Wikimedia Commons)

Athens opened its first government-funded mosque in nearly 200 years on November 6, after numerous failed attempts going back decades. Until now, Athens stood alone as a capital city in the European Union lacking an official mosque. 

After declaring independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1821, Greece, where an estimated 90 percent of the population identifies as Greek Orthodox, repurposed or destroyed all of its mosques.

In 2002, the Greek government announced plans to build a mosque in Paiania, an Athenian suburb, before hosting the 2004 Summer Olympics. Locals protested, and a small Greek Orthodox chapel went up on the site instead.

The government proposed building a mosque near the center of Athens in 2006, but decided against it after locals again opposed the plans.

Officials announced plans to build a mosque again in 2010, but Greeks pushed back. Given the financial crisis at the time, many questioned why the government would fund a mosque while they made cutbacks in other sectors.

Without an official place to worship, Muslims in Athens resorted to basements and garages. As the number of unsanctioned places of worship increased, the Greek Parliament approved plans to build a mosque in 2016, and construction finally concluded in 2020. 

Some expressed disappointment with the appearance of the mosque: a gray, rectangular building. Naim El Ghandour, head of the Muslim Association of Greece, said, “It does not at all look like a place of worship; it is a small, square, miserable building,” in a statement to Reuters. He added, “We thank them very much for the offer, but we will fight to reach it to the level that we deserve.”

Anna Stamou, a representative of the Muslim Association of Greece, expressed mixed feelings. “On the one hand… we have a public mosque here, but on the second hand you can see how this is for second-grade citizens… As you can see from the environment, how the building is looking, it is indicative of how the state is perceiving the Muslims,” she told Al Jazeera. 

Others have expressed more joy than dismay at the development. Heider Ashir, a member of the mosque’s governing council, told Al Jazeera, “It is a historic moment for the Muslim community living in Athens. We have been waiting for this mosque for so long.”