The Hala Sultan Tekke, built near the salt lake west of Larnaca
“Hala Sultan Tekke, a complex made up of a small mosque, a mausoleum, a minaret, and living quarters for men and women, is set amidst palm trees on the shore of the Larnaka Salt Lake, and is one of the most famous sites in Cyprus, familiar to many millions of travelers who pass through the nearby airport.
Themosque and the mausoleum, built between 1174H/1760AD and 1211H/1796AD, is revered as the burial place ofUmmHaram (…) Professor Most a f a , ( . . . ) explained, ‘If Hala Sultan Tekke had been left to its own devices it would have crumbled, the walls could not have continued to hold the roof, and the edifice would have collapsed’ ”.
Daily press , Egypt, 30 July, 2002
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020730/2002073046.html
“(Tekkye is) The chief Moslem shrine of Cyprus. A tradition of unknown date associates this monument with the first invasion by the Arabs in 644. According to this account Umm Haram was a near relative of the Prophet, and whilst accompanying the expedition, orraid, upon Cyprus, commanded by an Arab Sheik named ‘Mabias,’ a fall from her donkey terminated her existence, and she was buried under the trilithon now known as her tomb. By Mavias the natives possibly mean the famous Sultan Moawiyeh of Damascus.
Professor Sayce accurately describes the appearance of the shrine: ‘In the pretty Moslem sanctuary- of the Tekkye, above the Salt Lake is the reported tomb UmmHaram … The tomb is built under a megalithic structure, consisting of two upright stones, some fifteen feet in height, and a third stone of great size, which rests upon them. The two uprights have been defaced by carving, stucco, and whitewash, but the third stone remains pretty much in its original condition.
The legend runs that the stones were conveyed from Palestine by invisible agency like the Holy House of Loretto.
The archaeologist, however, will prefer to see in them a relic of the Phoenician, or pre-Phoenician age, whose sanctity was respected down to the time when a Mohammedan tombwas erected under it.’
The last paragraph of the Professor’s description must however be modified by the fact that during the middle ages there does not appear to have been any recognition of the trilithon as a shrine, either Moslem or Christian.
In fact it is not so much as mentioned, Cornelius Van Bruyn (‘Travels,’ 1674) is one of the first writers on Cyprus to mention this monument, which he describes as consisting of three stones, two upright, and the third resting on them above, and about twenty-six palms high to the underside of the upper stone; the whole covered with gypsum”. George Jeffery (1918)
The Hala Sultan Tekke, built near the salt lake west of Larnaca, dates back to the XVIIIth – XIXth centuries. It is dedicated to Umm Haram, who died and was buried there during one of the first Arab incursions, in 649 AD. Inscriptions in Arabic script refer to historical events or verses from the holy Koran. Also found in the Hala Sultan Tekke is the grave of Khadija Adila, the wife of his Majesty Hussein Ibn Ali, King of Hidjaz, who died in the island on 12 July 1929. The British exiled King Hussein to Cyprus, at that time.
Source: Muslim places on worship in Cyprus (Published by the Press and Information Office, Republic of Cyprus)
District: Larnaca
Address: Larnaca Salt Lake
Accreditation: Department of Antiquities
Working hours:
Winter Season September 16th – April 15th: Monday – Sunday 8:30 to 17:00
Summer Season April 16th – September 15th: Monday – Sunday: 8:30 to 19:30
The mosque is closed to the public during the following holidays: January 1, Easter Sunday and December 25th.
During the following holidays Mosque is open as follows: January 6, 8:30 to 17:00, March 25 8:30 to 17:00, Clean Monday 8:30 to 17:00, April 1 8:30 to 17:00 , Good Friday 8:30 to 19:30, Saturday 8:30 to 19:30, Easter Monday 8:30 to 19:30, May 1, 8:30 to 19:30, the Holy Spirit 8:30 – 19: August 30 15th 8:30 to 19:30, October 1 8:30 to 17:00, October 28 8:30 to 17:00, December 24 8:30 to 17:00, December 26 8:30 – 17: 00.
Season: All year.
Facilities: The mosque is partly accessible for people in wheelchairs. Login: Accessibility in space – unmarked but not inside the mosque. There are washrooms unmarked.
Contact Telephone / Facsimile: – / –
Website / Email: www.mcw.gov.cy/mcw/da/da.nsf / antiquitiesdept@da.mcw.gov.cy
Entrance Fee: Free
Supply Fee: –
Map / Google Earth:
In the map the follows, point 27, you can spot the exact site of the Hala Sultan Tekke in Larnaka.