Hamidiye (Bairakli) Mosque

The Hamidie or Bayrakli Mosque, one of the three surviving Ottoman mosques on Chios, stands within the Fortress of the old town, on Agiou Georgiou Street, on the site of ancient Chios. It was built in 1891–92 by order of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, when the island still belonged to the Ottoman Empire; its name means “mosque of the standard‑bearer.” Materials from earlier structures were reused for its construction, and according to local tradition it was built on the site of an old Genoese Catholic church—though this is not historically documented. After the population exchange, the mosque ceased to function and went through various uses until it was donated to the Ministry of Culture in 1999. Restoration work began in 2018 and was completed in 2023, fully rehabilitating the building, which now operates as a visitable monument, highlighting Chios’s multicultural history.