Photos

Yasya Vogelgardt

In Moscow, next to the Olympic sports complex, the Cathedral Mosque opened. It was erected on the site of a historical building that was demolished in 2011. The new building was increased 20 times - up to 19 thousand square meters. Now it can accommodate up to 10 thousand parishioners. The Moscow Cathedral Mosque has become one of the largest in Europe.

The six-story building has one hall for worship, and the rest of the space is occupied by ablution rooms, office space and a conference room with simultaneous translation booths. Also, seven elevators, a video surveillance system with monitors for broadcasts, air purification devices and air conditioners were installed in the mosque. It is noted that the building is specially equipped for people with disabilities. The dome of the mosque with a diameter of 46 meters with a crescent is covered with gold leaf, the height of the two minarets is 78 meters each.

The total cost of the project, according to official data, is $170 million; it was implemented with funds from philanthropists. RBC sources estimated the construction at $170-200 million: according to their information, the construction was almost entirely financed by billionaires Suleiman Kerimov, Mikhail Gutseriev and the Turkish government. The Village visited a new religious building in the center of Moscow and asked an expert to evaluate the building.

There are two types of modern mosques: traditional buildings, stylistically corresponding to the fairy tales of “1001 Nights”, and mosques made in the international style. In the second case, as a rule, the hand of the architect who worked with it is visible. The new mosque in Moscow is simply a tall, wide and out-of-date building. And this is not my personal opinion, I’m talking about the architectural component. Of course, all norms were observed during its construction, but it was not worthwhile to equip the building with such minarets: the screams coming from them are inconvenient in an urban space, the flock can be gathered in another way. Mosques without minarets are now being built everywhere, and architects around the world are debating whether they are needed at all.

"What's in front of her now? Winter. Istanbul.

The consul's grins. An annoying hum

market at noon. Class minarets

earth-earth or earth-turban

(otherwise - cloud). Zurna, antimony.

Another race."

Joseph Brodsky. "Ritratto di donna".
(Portrait of a Woman).1993

Traveling during the non-tourist season - from November to March - has its advantages. It gets dark early, early
Museums are closing, but there are noticeably fewer tourists. Cities, even southern ones, are not decorated
flowering trees and flower beds, but through the bare branches there are views that
in summer it hides dense foliage. How beautiful in combination with the exquisite pattern of the branch domes,
spiers, and in Istanbul - minarets so thin that they can be likened to tree trunks.

"Mosque of Princes" - Shahzadeh. 1548

However, for Joseph Brodsky, who strongly disliked Istanbul, the minarets evoked others
associations: "... the mosques of Istanbul! These gigantic ones, perched on the ground, are unable to tear themselves away from it
frozen stone toads! Only the minarets, most reminiscent - prophetically, I'm afraid -
ground-to-air installations, and indicate the direction in which the soul was going to move,"
- Brodsky wrote in his essay “Travel to Istanbul” in 1985.

Minarets of the Blue Mosque of Sultanahmet. 1616

Almost 30 years later, Brodsky’s prophetic fears became almost a reality.Europe
fears the expansion of Islam, quiet Switzerland votes to ban the construction of minarets,
politically correct Germany is seriously concerned that the minarets will rise higher
Cologne Cathedral.

Suleymaniye Mosque. 1557 Fragments.

In Istanbul, as you know, Muslims, Christians and Jews once coexisted peacefully. Herself
the amazing geography of the city contributed to this - Muslims and non-Muslims lived side by side
side, but each on its own shore of the narrow and long, like a river, Golden Horn Bay. Bosphorus divides
Istanbul is divided into European and Asian parts, and the Golden Horn, in turn, is conventionally divided
the European part of the city to "Istanbul is truly Muslim" , on the south, and "Istanbul
Gentiles" - on the northern bank of the Golden Horn. In the European part of the city there is
the famous Pera (now Beyoglu) - an area where everything is just like in Europe, Christian
temples, the few remaining synagogues in the city, the Galata Tower, which offers a view
to the “Istanbul of the Faithful”, separated by a strip of water, with huge mosques on the hills and
the ancient Sultan's Palace Topkapi.

View of Istanbul from the Galata Tower. On the left is the Bosphorus and the Asian part of the city.
To the right is the Golden Horn Bay, behind it is old Istanbul with palaces and mosques.

Beautiful! Even Brodsky could not help but admit: “Against the background of the sunset, on the crest of a hill, their (mosques)
silhouettes make a strong impression; hand reaches for the camera, like a spy at the sight
military facility. There really is something menacingly otherworldly about them,alien,
absolutely hermetic, shell-like. And it's all the samedirty brown, like
most buildings in Istanbul. And all this onbackground of the turquoise Bosphorus."

View of the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn from the Galata Tower

So my hand reached out to the camera, although the sun was shining straight into my eyes and the conditions for
The photo sessions weren't the best. As for the “armor-shaped” mosques, the comparison
really spot on! The mosques lay down like huge turtles by the water, climbed onto
hills. Their squat monochrome bodies (all the beauty and brightness is inside!) would be completely
awkward, if not for the minarets, but for the silhouette of the city without multiple verticals
minarets would have lost unspeakably.

Let's look at the minarets without bias - they are very slender, graceful, and up close
does not resemble a rocket at launch. The word "minaret" comes from the Arabic "manara", "lighthouse",
since in coastal cities minarets served as lighthouses. Istanbul minarets -
round, sometimes with grooved grooves, very narrow, with a pointed cone-shaped
completion. From above their trunks are surrounded by one or two or three openwork balconies -
shurfe. The balconies below are often decorated with characteristics characteristic of Muslim architecture
"muqarnas" or "stalactites" - decorative reliefs located above each other
another prism.

Dolmabahce Mini-Mosque (1855) on the shores of the Bosphorus near Dolmabahce Palace

The larger and more significant the mosque, the more minarets it has - from one to four, and the more
they are taller. The only minaret of a small quarterly mosque does not reach 50 meters,
and the minarets of the Sultan’s mosques rise almost a hundred meters, however, they cannot compete
with skyscrapers of modern Istanbul.

Minaret of the Blue Mosque (1616) with balconies decorated with “stalactites”

Inside the mineret there is a spiral staircase, along which the muezzin in former times
once a day he went up to the shurfe balcony to call the believers to prayer. Sometimes
inside the minaret there were two or three spiral staircases, so that those walking along them
haven't met each other. These days, the muezzin no longer ascends the minaret, but broadcasts
through a loudspeaker mounted on it.

Blue Sultanahmet Mosque with six minarets. 1616

It would seem, why build four minarets when one is enough? How
The more minarets, the more glorious and significant the mosque. How important this is proves
a story that is quite boring to me (all the guides happily tell it and repeat it
all guidebooks in all languages) about the six minarets of the Sultanahmet Mosque (or Ahmediye or, as
It was called the “Blue Mosque” for the incomparable beauty of its tiles). Sultan Ahmet allegedly said
to the architect that he wants to build golden ("Altyn") minarets, but the somewhat deaf architect heard
"alti" - six. Because of this misunderstanding, a mosque with six minarets was built. Muslim
the world perceived this as insolence, since only the Beytullah Mosque in
Mecca, so Sultan Ahmet had to build another - the seventh - minaret for the mosque
Beytullah, and balance was restored.

Byzantine temple HAHA SOPHIA, converted into a mosque.

There’s a separate conversation about it, so let’s look at it through the jets of the fountain .

Suleymaniye Mosque (1557) with 10 balconies on four minarets

In the evening, the minarets are especially spectacular - illuminated, they sparkle against the dark sky,
like burning pillars.

Blue Sultanahmet Mosque illuminated at night

Everyone knows what it is mosque, but what is minaret? A minaret is a tall tower-like structure built in the corners of mosques. As a rule, a minaret serves to ensure that the sound of the singing of imams (heads of mosques) spreads over a large area, and in some cases, to illuminate the area. You can often see these structures in movies, and especially often in Islamic countries while traveling. Today we will talk about interesting facts regarding minarets and mosques.

A little history

Translated from Arabic, the word “minaret” means “lighthouse”. The fact is that in past centuries, lights were lit on the tops of the minarets of coastal cities so that ship captains could direct their ships on the right course, hence the name.

At the very beginning of Islamic history, there were no minarets at all. To call for prayer, a person had to climb to the roof of a mosque or some other high structure.

According to some sources, the first minarets were built in the corners of the Amr-ibn-al-As mosque in Fustat (ancient Cairo) by order of the Egyptian governor Maslama ibn Muhallad (7th century).

To climb up scarf(balcony) located at the top, the caller must climb a spiral staircase inside the minaret. Different minarets have different numbers of balconies (one, two or three) - this depends on the height of the structure.

Where are the minarets?

In different Muslim countries, minarets can vary in configuration, depending on the style of architecture. For example, mosques in Iraq and Iran have a single scarf, helmet-shaped domes and a round cross-section. Turkish minarets are characterized by a narrower circular cross-section and have a cone-shaped tip. If you look at the minarets in North African countries, they have a square cross-section. In the same minarets that have recently been erected in European countries, the Art Nouveau style predominates.

The mosque has two minarets, but this is not interesting, but the fact that if you push one of them, both of them begin to sway.

This was done so that the minarets would not be destroyed in the event of earthquakes, but would allow vibrations of the earth’s surface to pass through them.

The secret of the minarets could not be revealed for more than three hundred years.

Click on the picture to get a free encyclopedia!

Finally

It should also be noted that the world-famous bathhouse, which is heated by just one candle, was also developed by Sheikh Bahai, but its secret has not yet been solved, and the diagram of its heating system has sunk into oblivion.

The bathhouse was dismantled by Russian engineers during the occupation of Iran by Russian troops during the Russian-Iranian War, but they failed to understand it.

The bathhouse was reassembled, but, unfortunately, it no longer worked.

History is truly full of countless mysteries and interesting facts. It is unlikely that we will be able to present them all, but we will continue to strive for this, preparing for you only the most interesting things on the pages of our travel magazine.

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Islamic architecture is usually easily recognizable due to its characteristic vaults, specific domes and, of course, minarets, which we will discuss briefly below.

The meaning of the word "minaret" goes back to the Arabic word "manara", meaning "lighthouse". In addition, this structure is also called mizana or sauma. Architecturally, a minaret is quite easy to define - it is essentially an ordinary tower. But what makes a tower a minaret?

What is a minaret

A minaret is not just a tower, it is a structure that is being built near a mosque. Its functional purpose is somewhat similar to Christian bell towers - to notify believers about the beginning of prayer and to convene them to perform general prayer. But unlike their Christian counterparts, there are no bells on the minarets. Instead, people called muezzins call believers to prayer at certain hours with special exclamations. This word comes from an Arabic verb, which can roughly be translated into Russian with the words “shout in public.” In other words, the minaret is, in a sense, an elevation for the speaker.

Types of minarets

Architecturally, there are at least two types of minarets - round or square in base and section. Multifaceted structures are less common. In all other respects, the minaret is similar to the usual lighthouse or bell tower. Just like on them, on the upper tier of the sauma there is a special platform where the muezzin rises. It looks like a balcony and is called sherefe. The entire structure is usually crowned with a dome.

Square, that is, tetrahedral at the base, minarets are most often found in North Africa. Round-trunked trees, on the contrary, are rarely found there, but they prevail in the Near and Middle East.

In ancient times, in order to go upstairs, minarets were equipped with an external spiral staircase or ramp. Therefore, they often had a spiral design. Over time, stairs increasingly began to be built inside buildings. This tradition has spread and taken over, so now it is difficult to find a minaret that has an external staircase.

Like the mosque building, the minaret is often decorated in a distinctive Islamic style. This could be brickwork, carvings, glaze, or openwork balcony decorations. Therefore, a minaret is not just a functional structure, it is also an object of Islamic art.

If the mosque is small, as a rule, one minaret is attached to it. Medium-sized buildings are supplied with two. Particularly large ones can have four or more. The maximum number of minarets can be found in the famous Prophet's Mosque, which is located in Medina. It is equipped with ten towers.

Minarets in our time

Technological progress makes its own adjustments to the way of life of Muslims. Often today there is no longer any need for muezzins to climb to the top of the minaret. Instead, speakers are installed on the tower's balcony, like on pillars, which simply broadcast the muezzin's voice.

In some countries, minarets are completely prohibited. We are talking, of course, not about Muslim countries, but about Western regions and states. The first among such countries was Switzerland. In 2009, following the results of a popular referendum, the construction of a misan was prohibited. Therefore, the minaret is a prohibited structure in this European country.

Arab. menaret. The tower on the mosque from which the muezzins announce the hour of prayer. Explanation of 25,000 foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language, with the meaning of their roots. Mikhelson A.D., 1865. MINARET tower at Mohammedan mosques, from a height... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

minaret- ah, m. minaret Arabic. manara. The tower at the mosque from which the muezzin calls for prayer. BAS 1. The very temple in Mecca has seven menars, that is, towers, from which the singers announce the times of prayer. Book syst. 187. Minare, a kind of bell tower at... ... Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

- (from Arabic manbra, literally lighthouse), a tower (round, square or polygonal in cross-section) for calling Muslims to prayer; placed next to the mosque or included in its composition. Early minarets often had a spiral staircase or ramp... ... Art encyclopedia

Minaret- Minaret. Village of Vabkent (Uzbekistan). 1196 98. MINARET (from Arabic manar, literally lighthouse), a tower (round, square or polygonal in cross-section) for calling Muslims to prayer; placed next to the mosque or included in its composition. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Cm … Synonym dictionary

- (from Arabic man ara lit. lighthouse), a tower (round, square or polyhedral in cross-section) for calling Muslims to prayer; placed next to the mosque or included in its composition... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

MINARET, minaret, man. (Arabic Manara, lit. place of illumination). A tower rising above the mosque from which muezzins call Muslims to prayer. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 … Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

MINARET, ah, husband. The tower at the mosque, with a swarm of muezzins calling for prayer. | adj. minaret, oh, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Husband. distorted Arabic word: tower at a mosque; a tower from which the muezzin calls Muslims to prayer with a chant. detailed, related to the minaret Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. IN AND. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

- (Ar. minara, lit. - lighthouse) - a tower (round, square or polyhedral in cross-section) for calling Muslims to prayer; placed next to the mosque or included in its composition. Large explanatory dictionary of cultural studies.. Kononenko B.I.. 2003 ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

Books

• Brick. Architectural fairy tale, D.D. Stein. What kinds of fairy tales are there? Magical and kind, and there are also architectural fairy tales! The Fairy Tale of Bricks is exactly like that! Architecture surrounds us; all buildings were once invented by someone. And some of...
• Brick Architectural fairy tale, Stein D.. What kinds of fairy tales are there? Magical and kind, and there are also architectural fairy tales! The fairy tale “The Brick” is exactly like that! Architecture surrounds us - all buildings were once invented by someone. And some of these...