By Maria Spiliopoulou
ATHENS, March 22 (Xinhua) -- The 600 year-old Bayezid mosque in the northern Greek town of Didimoteicho was damaged during a fire on Wednesday, Greece's Culture Ministry said.
The extent of the damage caused by the blazes which broke out during restoration works has yet to be determined. According to an e-mailed ministry announcement, General Secretary Maria Andreadaki- Vlazaki heading a delegation of experts has travelled to the site to assess the "wounds."
The mosque's wooden ceiling has been destroyed, local mayor Paraskevas Patsouridis told Greek national news agency AMNA.
The Bayezid mosque, also known as Celebi Sultan Mehmed I mosque, was constructed in the early 15th century AD during the Ottoman rule in Greece.
According to the Greek ministry which has included the mosque in the list of protected monuments over the past 70 years, it is considered as one of the most important Ottoman monuments on European ground.
The latest round of restoration works started with national sources and EU funds in 2010 and is expected to be finished by 2018. The total budget for the period 2013-2020 stood at 5 million euros (5.4 million U.S. dollars), according to the Culture Ministry's announcement.
Didymoteicho is a town of 10,000 inhabitants located only 2 km from the Greek-Turkish border.
