Russia is not only a multinational, but also a "multi-faith" country. Apart from the very rare and wild religious worldviews , perhaps all religions are represented in it. Considering how many Tatars, Kazakhs and other Central Asian immigrants live on Russian territory, nobody is surprised at the Muslims intention to have their place of worship in their place of residence. So the mosque in St. Petersburg, in principle, simply reflects the ethnic composition of the population and at the same time is a work of architectural art.
Petersburg Muslim Church
This refers to the one called the Cathedral. Until the year 9 of the current millennium, it was generally the only mosque in St. Petersburg. However, it is still considered one of the most monumental and roomy in Europe. The three-story building can accommodate up to five thousand visitors. The huge hall, located at the very bottom, is intended for praying men. The second floor is reserved for female Muslims, and the third is a Muslim religious educational institution - a madrassah. The basics of Islam, Tatar and Arabic are studied there. Officially, the Cathedral Mosque in St. Petersburg now belongs to the Sunni community, but any Muslim can use it. And people of a different faith are allowed to go there freely if they are interested in Islam and are respectful of Muslim traditions. In particular, a woman should be modestly dressed, her head should be covered with a scarf (not a hat and a cap), and she is only allowed to listen to the service in the women's department. You can visit this mosque in St. Petersburg at 2 and 6 in the afternoon, when zuhr and asr are held, on Friday - at 3, during the juma prayer.
Tatar contribution
We can say that the most famous mosque in St. Petersburg owes its existence to perseverance and consistency of the Tatars. They tried to get permission from the authorities to build a house of worship, starting in 1798. Then they were refused, but they did not leave requests and exhortations. Already in 1803, the project "Tatar Mosque" was proposed for consideration. In St. Petersburg, he remained non-embodiment, although all architectural calculations were made - from the fence to the location of the interior. At that time, allotting to Muslims a place for religious rituals was already urgently needed: the servant in the Winter Palace was composed mainly of Tatars. However, only in 1881 the Mahometan akhun by the name of Bayazitov received permission to build a mosque in St. Petersburg.
The difficult history of a Muslim temple
The year 1904 can be considered a fulfilled beginning, when a meeting with the emir of Bukhara prompted the Russian tsar to give Bayazitov permission to build a Muslim church. When they began to build the first mosque in St. Petersburg, Gur-Emir, a temple in Samarkand, was taken as a model. However, this was not stupid copying - the architects tried to combine the teachings of the Koran and the trends of European culture. This was greatly facilitated by the granite cladding of the walls of the structure, it gave the structure a rather strict appearance, which is absent in traditional oriental architecture. In 1913, the first service in the mosque was held, despite the fact that construction was not yet completed. Islamic religious figures timed it to a significant date - 300 years since the founding of the Romanovs. In World War I began in 1914, and the construction slowed down significantly, as a result of which work continued until 1918, and only in the 20th became regular services. After 1930, the first (and only) Cathedral Mosque in St. Petersburg went to the state fund and did not carry a religious burden until 1956, when it was transferred to the Muslim community. And since 1968 it is also recognized as an architectural monument.
New Mosque (Kolomyazhskaya)
Since 2009, the Cathedral Mosque is no longer the only Muslim religious building . Of course, the new mosque is much smaller than the “first swallow”, but it is able to accommodate a thousand worshipers. The name of the church was due to its location - the Kolomyagi district in the north of the city. A building permit was issued in the fifth year of this century, but the temple began to operate only four years later. The founders plan to place in the nearest building of the Islamic Institute, focused only on men and designed to study spiritual Islamic disciplines.
Perhaps these are the most significant mosques in St. Petersburg. Their addresses: Kronverksky pr., D. 7 - for Sobornaya (take the subway to Gorkovskaya), Parachutnaya St., 7 - for Kolomyazhskaya. You can get there from the Pionerskaya or Udelnaya stations. Faithful Muslims probably also know other, small churches for believers, but they are of regional importance.
Future plans
There was news that Muslim religious figures are going to build the highest temple of their faith in the Porcelain cemetery. The top of the minaret is planned to be 200 m high; the complex should include a cultural Islamic center with excursions for the younger generation. The place of future construction was chosen for reasons of high density in the area of the population professing Islam. However, there are a huge number of opponents of the project. The main catch is that the old cemetery is allotted for development - according to the law, nothing can be located on it except squares and parks so as not to disturb the ashes of the deceased.
Will the idea of Muslim activists be realized - time will tell.