Hala Sultan Tekke

Hala Sultan Tekke is a mosque and shrine on the western bank of the Larnaca Salt Lake, about 4 kilometres from the city centre. The complex includes the mosque, a minaret, a small cemetery, and the tomb that is the site's real reason for existing. The setting is striking: the white building rises from a landscape of palm trees and salt flats, with the silhouette of Larnaca visible across the water.

The tomb is venerated by Muslim pilgrims from across the world. The mosque is open to visitors of all faiths, but appropriate dress is required and visitors should remove shoes. The interior is modest but the atmosphere inside the tomb chamber is genuinely affecting. The surrounding archaeological site has been excavated to reveal a Late Bronze Age settlement, with finds in the Larnaca museum.

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The mosque is said to mark the tomb of Umm Haram bint Milhan, a maternal aunt of the Prophet Muhammad, who accompanied one of the early Arab raids on Cyprus in 647–648 AD and died here when she fell from a mule. Her tomb became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in the Islamic world and the third holiest site in Islam for a period, after Mecca and Medina. A great stone slab above the tomb, supported by three pillars, is said to have floated there miraculously.

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