From early in the morning, at 7:00 today, a large number of Muslims, including women and children, came to pray for the beginning of the Feast of the Sacrifice of Abraham (Eid al Adha), at the Jeni Mosque, known as an old archaeological museum, as there are no prayer places for Muslims in Thessaloniki.

The Yeni Mosque, one of the most important monuments of the period of Turkish rule in the city of Thessaloniki, was granted today, for the second time in the last three months, to Muslims for the performance of their religious duties, as announced by the General Secretariat of Religions.

The first time was on April 10, when it was granted for the first time since 1922, on the occasion of the end of the Ramadan fast.

The prayer was performed by the Egyptian imam Mohamed El Zahabi, president of the Religious Committee of the Islamic Mosque of Athens, and was attended by believers, members of religious communities from the wider area of ​​Thessaloniki, as well as visitors.

“We wish a happy new year to all Muslims. Today there was more interest from Muslims than the first time we granted the space”, the head of the Muslim affairs department of the General Secretariat of Religious Affairs of the Ministry of Religious Education and Sports, Mary Kyritsis, pointed out to APE-MPE and explained that, “about 130 people came today, almost twice as many as last time, among them many families, women with children”.

“In the previous days, following the approval of the central archaeological council of the Ministry of Culture, our service followed the necessary procedures, consultations were held with religious communities that expressed interest, followed by site preparations,” explained Ms Kyritsi.