The Palace of Culture of Tirana (
Albanian: Pallati i Kulturës) was built on the
Pazari i Vjeter area of
Tirana by request of
Enver Hoxha. For this construction, both the old
bazaar and the historic
mosque of Mahmud Muhsin Bey Stërmasi were destroyed under the rulership of the
Albanian Labour Party in adherence to the communist country's declaration of
state atheism. The
Ottoman mosque had been built from 1837 to 1840 and had a tiled roof as well as a striking minaret with a sherefe.
