Kebir Jami Mosque, Simferopol
The cathedral mosque of Aqmescit, dated to 1508 by the inscription above its entrance.
Kebir Jami is the cathedral mosque in the Old Town of Simferopol. The inscription above the entrance dates it to the year 914 of the Hijra, that is 1508, and links it to Khan Meñli Giray (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine; RISU); restoration studies also allow for 1502 (RISU). The mosque’s walls were whitewashed again and again, so it — and later the settlement around it — was named Aqmescit, the “White Mosque” (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine). After a fire in the first half of the 18th century the mosque was restored in 1772 and enlarged with side naves in 1907 (RISU). After the Second World War a bookbindery worked in the building; in 1989 the mosque was returned to the Muslim community, and from 1991 it was rebuilt on the old foundations to a design by A. Abdurakhmanov and S. Khalilov — of the old walls only a fragment with a niche remains (RISU).
Crimea has been occupied since 2014 — no access.