The Al-Bahr Mosque was built in 1373 AD or 775 AH, and was the first to be constructed on the city’s seafront, hence its name ‘The Sea Mosque’. A series of granite columns from the Roman period were incorporated into the mosque’s structure during its construction. The initial construction was financed by Hassan bin Sawah, and was later embellished and expanded by Ali Agha Hammoud as part of a donation to the Waqf that included the construction of an attached Qur’an school. The mosque had the city’s tallest minaret until the construction of the Hariri Mosque in 2003 at the northern entrance of the city.