On July 31, the first Open Day took place in Razgrad at the restored “Maqbul Ibrahim Pasha” Mosque – a cultural monument of national importance, dating from 1616-1617, an emblematic building for Razgrad. The Regional History Museum – Razgrad assisted in the preparation and display of the photo-documentary exhibition “Maqbul Ibrahim Pasha Mosque through the Ages”, which was located at the entrance to the renovated historical site.
The exposition was viewed by the organizers and guests attending the event – the regional governor Aylin Basheva, the Consul General of Turkey in Burgas Tolga Orkun, the mayor of Razgrad Dobrin Dobrev, members of parliament, citizens. The director of the Regional Historical Museum – Razgrad Tanya Todorova, together with museum specialists, participated in the Open Day. The curator of the RIM – Razgrad Silvia Anastasova gave interesting information about the cultural monument. Each of the attendees of the event received answers to questions that interested them about the history of the temple from the museum specialists.
The museum provided photos from its collection for the exhibition, which document stages of archaeological research on this historical site. Three archaeologists from the Regional History Museum worked on the topic at different times. Zlatka Genova studied the site in 1986, and Boni Petrunova and Galena Radoslavova – in the period 2000-2001. The preserved photos give a good idea of what activity was carried out within the framework of the archaeological research, which established that under the mosque building there are foundations of an even older temple.
The photos clearly show the drilling in the prayer hall, as well as other drillings. The museum has also provided photos of architectural details – brick, marble, limestone, used in the temple building. Other photos show how the mosque building looked during historical periods – the museum has preserved photos from the beginning of the 20th century, as well as from 1987, and a view of the minaret from 1988 has also been preserved. In one of the photos we see a mural decoration – plant ornaments from 1987, and in another photo – the minbar of the mosque, also from 1987.
Construction and installation works on the mosque restoration project began in October 2020. It was worth 2,374,836 leva including VAT, provided by the state budget for the conservation, restoration and adaptation of the “Maqbul Ibrahim Pasha” temple.
See more photos on the museum’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/regionalhistorymuseumrazgrad/
