A 12th-century Crusader church repurposed as a mosque when the Mamluks took the city in 1291, the Al-Omari Grand Mosque retains the proportions, vaulted bays and stone-cut details of its origins. The minaret rises from a former bell tower; the mihrab faces Mecca through what was once an apse.
It is one of the oldest functioning religious buildings in Beirut and an architectural palimpsest unlike anything else in the city. Visitors are welcome outside prayer times. The mosque sits just south of the Beirut Souks, easily combined with the Mohammad Al-Amin Mosque and the St. George Cathedrals.