The St. Petersburg Cathedral mosque is a majestic and at the same time restrained building that combines elements of traditional Eastern architecture and features of Northern art Nouveau.
The mosque can accommodate about seven thousand parishioners. It is a well-known fact that the mosque occupies the eleventh place in the list of the largest Islamic temples in Europe. If we talk about historical mosques-monuments, the Cathedral mosque of St. Petersburg will be one of the three largest mosques.
The question of building a mosque arose for the first time in 1882,. The then Supreme leader of Muslims, Mufti Tevkelev, made a request to the Minister of internal Affairs, count Tolstoy, to which he received consent. Only in 1906, the Ministry of internal Affairs authorized the establishment of a special Committee for the construction of a Cathedral mosque in St. Petersburg at the expense of voluntary donations from Muslims throughout the Russian Empire.
It was up to the choice of location. We stopped at the site located on the Petersburg side of Kronverksky Prospekt. But in terms of size and location relative to parts of the world, the area was not enough. It was necessary to sell the neighboring plot on Kronverksky Avenue, 7. Permission to purchase land was signed by Nicholas II in Peterhof on July 3, 1907.,
In the autumn of 1908, the project of the mosque was ready and approved by the Tsar. The authors are the artist-architect N. V. Vasiliev, civil engineer S. S. Krichinsky under the guidance of academician A. M. von Gauguin. The idea of both internal layout and external appearance was based on the character and style of mosques and tombs Of Central Asia of the Tamerlane era.
On February 16, 1910, at 11 o’clock in the morning, the solemn act of laying the Foundation stone of the St. Petersburg Cathedral mosque took place.
The place intended for laying the Foundation was surrounded by a fence and a domed tent was built over it, the Eastern side of which adjoined the already erected Foundation. Nearby, on a table, were a silver hammer, a spade, a Board with Russian and Arabic inscriptions, and several pieces of white marble bricks.
The opening of the mosque was timed to the 300th anniversary of the house of Romanov in 1913, However, it was only an official opening. Interior decoration continued for several more years.
For better lighting of the prayer hall (taking into account the Northern location of the temple), the architects had to cut through the walls and drum of the dome with numerous window openings, which is not typical for Eastern monumental buildings. The walls of the mosque are lined with gray granite. The portal, dome and minarets are covered with sky-colored ceramics. The famous ceramic artist P. K. Vaulin took part in the production of ceramic products. Among the facade decorations, inscriptions-sayings from the Koran above the main entrance to the mosque and two slender minarets pointing high into the sky give exceptional picturesqueness. The interior decoration of the mosque corresponds to the traditions of Muslim architecture. Beautiful columns, lined with green marble in the traditions of Islam, support the arches under the dome. A huge chandelier, on the side of which are engraved sayings from the Koran, hangs in the center of the hall. Above the end of the hall rises a large gallery, draped with the finest mesh. The gallery is intended for women. Separate from the mosque was built a spacious “Taharat-Khana” (bath, washing), where a Muslim performs a complex ritual ablution before entering the temple. The floor of the mosque is covered with carpets. It is forbidden to enter the prayer hall in shoes, and the worshipper leaves his outdoor shoes in the hallway.
In 1956, at the urgent request of the Tatar community, the Leningrad mosque was given to the faithful.
I would like to mention an interesting fact that occurred during the construction of the mosque. Later it turned out that the layout did not take into account the fact that the mihrab (a niche in the interior that orients the faithful during prayer towards Mecca) points directly to the facade of the building on the site adjacent to the mosque. In the end, the Islamic community had to buy the house. It houses rooms for ritual ablutions, as well as the headquarters of the mosque construction Committee. The remaining premises were rented out to cover the cost of purchasing the building.
The doors of the Cathedral mosque of Saint Petersburg are always open to everyone, regardless of their religion and nationality.
Author: Sofia Sanyarova
Location : St.Petersburg
Visit the grand locations St. Petersburg Cathedral Mosque and many more that St Petersburg has to offer!
Contact us@ Russian InfoCenter to Book Classic Russia tour 5n/6d and more tour packages from India to Russia
Choose from flights ex Delhi, Mumbai & Calcutta
Fill the form below and we’ll get back to you right away!