The Palace of Culture of Tirana was built on the Pazari i Vjeter area of Tirana by request of Enver Hoxha. For this construction, both the old bazaar and the historic mosque of Mahmud Muhsin Bey Stërmasi were destroyed under the rulership of the Albanian Labour Party in adherence to the communist country's declaration of state atheism. The Ottoman mosque had been built from 1837 to 1840 and had a tiled roof as well as a striking minaret with a sherefe.