With Eid Al-Adha now underway, it is a timely moment to look more closely at the beauty of the key locales in which Muslims across the world congregate for prayers, that is, mosques. While Egypt and the Muslim world at large are of course full of these splendid structures — ranging from impressive and longstanding city mosques such as Cairo’s Mosque of Amr ibn al-As and its Mosque of Ibn Tulun to countless smaller or simpler renditions — there are also many mosques to be admired around the rest of the world, worthy of some attention on this religious occasion. In Europe, mosques have had a relatively long presence, considering that different parts of the continent were once under Muslim rule. The Ottomans in the Balkan region, the Moors in Spain and the Tatars in what are now Baltic countries, have indeed left a rich Muslim heritage dating back centuries – and this naturally means a number of stunning mosques. In more recent decades, furthermore, with the arrival of thousands of migrants from predominantly Muslim countries, mosques and Islamic centers have been springing up across the continent, often combining traditional…
Looking Beyond Egypt During Eid: A Glimpse at Some of Europe’s Impressive Mosques
August 10, 2019
