graphic: KAPS ArchitekciThe Muslim League in Poland is building a modern, three-story mosque near the centre of Warsaw.
The Centre of Islamic Culture, designed by KAPS Architekci, will be located in the close vicinity of the Blue City shopping centre, at the Zeslancow Syberyjskich roundabout just to the west of the city centre.
The three-story building will have an 18-metre high minaret. But the characteristic sound of prayer will not be heard drifting over the city.
“A muezin’s call for prayer will be heard only in a prayer room, not outside,” says Samir Ismail, head of the Muslim League in Poland. Apart from a prayer room, the centre will consist of a library with a multimedia room, art gallery, restaurant, café and shop. “We will pray there and make Poles aware that Islam is a moderate religion,” says Ismail.
The construction of the mosque will be mainly financed by a Saudi investor but the League does not want to reveal who it is or what the cost of the investment will be.
There are about 35-40,000 Muslims in Poland, among them Poles, Tatars, Arabs, Turks, Palestinians and others. Most of them, around 11-13,000 people, live in Warsaw. There are already four mosques in Poland, one of them in Warsaw, built in 1993 and belonging to the Muslim Religion Association.
“We’ve also had plans to build a new mosque in Warsaw,” says Poland’s mufti Tomasz Miskiewicz.
The association’s planned mosque, however, with four 20-metre minarets, was to be built near the city centre but after WW II the authorities seized the land, which now the association is trying to regain.
“Our association unites 5,000 people and the League 180 people, mainly foreigners. Nevertheless, they quickly got a permit to build a mosque,” complains Miskiewicz. (mg/pg)
Source: Gazeta Wyborcza