Charlottenburg,
Schöneberg,
Wilmersdorf |
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Ahmadiyya-Moschee
(Ahmadiyya Mosque) |
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Index
Hugendubel
at Tauentzien
Ty
Breizh-Savoie Rire
Cadillacs
in Concrete
Church
Hohenzollerndamm
Nature
Reserve Schöneberg
Registry
Office
The
Arabic Book
The
Schildhorn Column
Universum
Cinema
Villa
Harteneck's Garden
Ahmadiyya
Mosque
Heerstraße
Cemetery
Canzone
- World music
Country
House Garden
Plasterworks
Georg
Kolbe Museum
Bookkeeper's
Cellar
Literature
Hotel
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Just before the junction of Berliner Straße and Hohenzollerndamm, one becomes aware of the mosque‘s whitewashed minarets, parapet and dome gleaming through a dense layer of trees. The Ahmadiyya Mosque is now the oldest building of its kind in Germany. Modelled on the burial mosques of Indian Mogul princes, it was constructed between 1924 and 1928 and designed by Berlin architect K.A. Hermann.
An earlier mosque, financed by the German government, was built in 1915 in Wünsdorf, some fifty kilometres south of Berlin. This was intended for Muslim prisoners of war and was demolished again in 1930.
The Wilmersdorf mosque was commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman – a religious community from Lahore, Pakistan, which also raised the money to finance the building. It was only possible to construct the 32-metre high minarets after the women of the community had sold their jewellery and donated the profits. The mosque was badly damaged in the Second World War. German marksmen directed machine guns from the minarets onto Russian soldiers who were entrenched in a neighbouring cemetery. The minarets were reduced to stumps a few metres high.
Both Indian and British military authorities were involved with the reconstruction of the mosque, and not until 1993 was the building put under a preservation order. At the end of the 1990s, the adjacent house was redeveloped and one of the minarets rebuilt. The completed spire for the second minaret sits in the garden, as though to encourage the sponsors to support further work: rebuilding the tower, overhauling the dome and the new garden layout.
What began as an Islamic mission has become a place of contact and peace. The softening of European prejudice against Islam could really become its most important task. The pleasant place of prayer serves only a very small community, and sees itself more as an Islamic information centre. The mosque is regularly open for Friday prayers. Visits outside these times can be arranged by telephone. |
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Address: Brienner Str. 7-8, 10713 Berlin, +49 (0)30 8735703, E-Mail: DieMoschee@aaiil.org
Hours of opening: Fri 13.00 (winter); 13.30 (summer)
Bus, Tube, Tram: U3, U7 Fehrbelliner Platz; Bus 115 Hoffman-von-Fallersleben-Pl. |
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