Atiq Mosque

The Atiq Mosque (literally "the Old Mosque") in the historic centre of Benghazi is the oldest mosque in the city and historically the principal congregational mosque of the eastern Libyan capital. The mosque was originally established in the medieval period during the Hafsid and Ottoman periods of Cyrenaican history, on the site of the much older town that preceded the Italian colonial expansion of Benghazi in the early twentieth century, and has been progressively rebuilt and expanded several times over the following centuries. The current building, in the regional Maghrebi-Ottoman architectural tradition with whitewashed walls, a small dome and a single slender minaret, sits in the historic Sabri quarter near the Benghazi waterfront. The mosque continues to serve the residents of the surrounding neighbourhood for the five daily prayers, the Friday Jumu'ah and the major Islamic religious occasions of the year. Benghazi has been at the centre of much of the political turbulence of post-2011 Libya, including the 2011 uprising that began in the city against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi, and the subsequent extended civil conflict between rival Libyan governments and armed factions. The historic centre of the city, including the Atiq Mosque area, sustained significant damage during the 2014-2017 Battle of Benghazi, and reconstruction of the historic religious buildings has been ongoing since the relative stabilisation of eastern Libya under the Libyan National Army administration.