Mosque of St Petersburg
Yesterday, I had a chance to visit the central (if not the only) and the oldest mosque in St Petersburg. Built in early 20th century, it proudly stands on the Petrogradskaya Storona [ru] of the city, right next to the Alexandrovskiy park, and not far from the Peter and Paul’s fortress.
Locals say that its one of the biggest mosques in Europe, and during the biggest Muslim holidays up to 5000 people gather here. It offers different religious services. At the moment, there is a summer school for kids (6+) on basics of Islam, and reading Koran.
Some photos of the mosque:
The mosque is beautifully decorated. Just like mosques and medreses in Samarkand and Bukhara, it has a blue dome, and strikingly beautiful carvings on the entrance ceiling and walls. And its outside walls, decorated with black roughly-shaped stones, make the mosque look in harmony with other old European-style buildings of St Petersburg.
Aka shuncha narsani kandey kilib kiska vakit ichida yozdiz
Shu, bekorchilikda, ozgina bosh vaqtim bor edi
How do St. Petersburg muslims survive the Ramazan month if it’s in the Summer? Are there any rules that allow them to eat when the Sun shines, if белые ночи coincide with the month?
They have a special calendar for this kind of situations, which allows them to eat when the sun is still shining. I do not really know how this calendar is made. I guess its created by muslim ulema in Russia.