The Great Mosque of Sidon sits in the heart of the old town, near the southern edge of the souks. Its lower walls and basic plan are those of a 13th-century Crusader church — the Church of the Hospitallers — which was converted into a mosque after the Crusaders were expelled from the Levant. A minaret was added, the apse reoriented, and a courtyard with ablutions fountain built alongside.
Non-Muslim visitors may sometimes enter outside prayer times if dressed appropriately. Even from outside, the building is striking: cyclopean stone walls of unmistakably medieval European construction, topped with a slender Ottoman minaret. The juxtaposition is a compact summary of Sidon's layered history.