The Conakry Grand Mosque (french: Grande mosquée de Conakry / Mosquée Fayçal) is a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in Conakry, Guinea, located east of the

Conakry Botanical Garden Conakry Botanical Garden is a botanical garden in Conakry, Guinea. It is located in the Camayenne part of the city, with the Ambroise Paré Hospital to the south and Conakry Grand Mosque to the north. It is noted for its kapok trees. See als ...

and beside the

Donka Hospital The Donka Hospital is a publicly owned hospital in Conakry, Guinea. It has inadequate facilities to handle demand, and many Guineans cannot afford its services. More than once in recent years the hospital has had to deal with a major influx of pa ...

. The mosque was built under Ahmed Sékou Touré with funding from

King Fahd Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود ''Fahd ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd'', ; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was a Saudi Arabian politician who was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia fro ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. It opened in 1982. It is the fourth largest mosque in Africa and the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. The mosque has 2,500 places on the upper level for women and 10,000 below for men. An additional 12,500 worshipers can be accommodated in the mosque's large esplanade. The gardens of the mosque contain the Camayanne Mausoleum, including the tombs of the national hero

Samori Ture Samory Toure ( – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Muslim cleric, a military strategist, and the founder and leader of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic empire that was in present-day ...

Sékou Touré Sekou, also spelled Sékou or Seku, is a given name from the Fula language. It is equivalent to the Arabic ''Sheikh''. People with this name include: Given name * Seku Amadu (1776–1845), also known as Sékou Amadou or Sheikh Amadu, founder of th ...

and Alfa Yaya. The mosque suffers from a lack of maintenance, running water and electricity, despite a large donation of 20 billion GNF by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2003. On Friday 2 October 2009 the bodies of 58 victims of the 28 September massacre were laid in the esplanade in front of the mosque. A large body of mourners and protesters were present, leading to clashes with police. The police responded with tear gas, which flooded the interior of the mosque.

References

1982 establishments in Guinea Buildings and structures in Conakry Guinea–Saudi Arabia relations Mosques completed in 1982 Mosques in Guinea {{Guinea-struct-stub

See also

References