The ET'HEM BEY MOSQUE is an 18th-century mosque located in the center of the Albanian capital TIRANA.
   Closed under communist rule, the mosque reopened as a house of worship in 1991, without permission from the authorities. 10,000 people attended and the police did not interfere.
   Frescoes outside and in the portico depict trees, waterfalls and bridges – motifs rarely seen in Islamic art.
  Construction was started in 1791 or 1794 by MOLLA BEY and it was finished in 1819 or 1821 by his son HAXHI ETHEM BEY, grand-grandson of SULEJMAN PASHA.
   During the totalitarianism of the Socialist People's Republic of ALBANIA, the mosque was closed (i.s.).