Fethiye Mosque, Athens

In the vicinity of the Roman Forum, you can discover some of the few remaining vestiges of the Ottoman era. The oldest mosque in Athens, known as the Fethiye, was built in 1458 on the ruins of an 8th-century Byzantine basilica. The mosque was dedicated by Sultan Mehmet II, who held admiration for ancient Greek philosophers, and more famously conquered Constantinople in 1453 ("fethiye" means "conquest" in Turkish). The Athenians, less inclined to celebrate the empire that had occupied their city, simply referred to it as the "Wheatmarket Mosque" due to its proximity to the Forum, which had become a wheat market during Ottoman rule.

During a brief period of Venetian occupation of the city in the Morean War (October 1687 – May 1688), the mosque underwent a transformation into a Catholic church, dedicated to Dionysius the Areopagite. Following Athens' liberation from Ottoman rule in the early 19th century, the minaret was dismantled, and the mosque was repurposed as a school. From 1834 until the early 20th century, it served various roles, including as a barracks, a military prison, and eventually a military bakery.

The mosque features an impressive, porticoed entrance, but unfortunately, its interior is not accessible to visitors as it now serves as an archaeological storage facility. Across Eólou Street from this site, roughly opposite the entrance to the Roman Forum, you can still see the gateway and the single dome of a medrese, an Islamic school, which have endured through the years.