The Cathedral Mosque is a magnificent structure that serves as the hub of Islamic culture in Moscow.
The mosque, which can accommodate over 10,000 worshipers at once, is one of the largest in Europe. It is magnificent both inside and out!
The History
The Moscow Cathedral Mosque was built in 2015 to replace an earlier mosque established in 1904. However, it was not the city’s oldest mosque.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the first Muslims arrived in Moscow. The Tatars were descendants of the Mongol Empire. Several centuries of conflict with the Golden Horde eventually led to a more harmonious incorporation of Islamic culture into Russian life. The Muslim community had settled in the Tatar quarter of the Zamoskvorechie District at the time. (Today, it is the region between the metro stations Novokuznetskaya and Paveletskaya.)
The first mosque in Moscow was built during the reign of Empress Catherine the Great in the late 18th century. Catherine II was the first Russian ruler who tolerated the religious and cultural identities of Russia’s significant Muslim population. As a result, all construction limitations on mosques were eliminated. However, the oldest mosque in the Zamoskvorechie neighborhood has not survived to the present day.
During Soviet times, the sole mosque in operation was the Moscow Cathedral Mosque. However, the local government chose to repair it in 2005. The mosque has grown 20 times since its renovation! It has an area of 18.9 thousand square meters and can house more than ten thousand people.
The architecture and interior of the mosque
The Moscow Cathedral Mosque was constructed to represent the goodwill between the Russian and Tatar peoples. The two tallest minarets are identical to the Spassky Tower of the Moscow Kremlin and the Kazan Kremlin’s leaning tower.
The mosque has a golden dome that blends well with the Orthodox Moscow cityscape.
The ancient mosque’s walls have been incorporated into the new complex; they were removed and reassembled from modern materials while keeping their original appearance from 1904.
The mosque’s magnificent interiors will astound you, as will the spectacular blend of pure white marble with emerald, green, blue, and golden patterns, as well as the excellent stone and wood carving.
Turkey donated many items to the mosque, including carved entrance doors and a one-and-a-half-ton crystal chandelier for the main hall, which took 50 Turkish craftsmen three months to complete.
The temple’s exterior walls are completed with Canadian gray marble, which withstands temperature variations well. Tall and thin lancet windows are framed by panels with geometric embellishments in the same blue as the ancient Cathedral Mosque.
