Tripoli Cathedral

The Cathedral of Tripoli in the 1960s.
The Algeria Square Mosque in 2012

Tripoli Cathedral (Italian: La Cattedrale di Tripoli; Arabic: كاتدرائية طرابلس‎) was a Roman Catholic cathedral in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, located on Algeria/Elgazayer Square - Maidan al Jazair /Maydan elgazayer in the city centre.

History

The Cathedral was officially opened in 1928. One of the contributors of the interior design and decoration of the cathedral was the Libyan artist Othman Nejem. The Original architect was the Italian Saffo Panteri, who designed the Cathedral with the use of Romanesque style with a dome reaching the height of 46 meters in total. The belltower was decorated with Venetian style engravings.

The Tripoli Cathedral was the second commissioned Catholic church in the city, with the first commissioned Santa Maria degli Angeli, constructed by the Maltese community in 1870.[1]

There are around 50,000 Catholics in Libya (mostly in Tripoli and surroundings), comprising less than one percent of the population. Most of the Catholic population was composed of the remaining Italian Libyans, Maltese Libyans, and people from the Philippines.

Conversion into a mosque

In the 1970s, the Cathedral was converted into the "Maidan al Jazair Square Mosque" (Arabic: جامع ميدان الجزائر‎) by Muammar Gaddafi's regime. After having been significantly modified, many of its original features were removed and replaced with more Arabesque-style architecture. The Cathedral was fully converted into a mosque by the year 2000. Coordinates: 32°53′26″N 13°11′9″E / 32.89056°N 13.18583°E

See also

References

  1. ↑ TRIPOLI OF BARBARY by Romeo Cini, Maltamigration.com, Accessed 28 December 2009.

External links