The Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilisation Center (HBKCC) is a sunni mosque in the Outer Nørrebro borough of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Built in 2014, it is the first purposely-built mosque in Denmark and one of the largest in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

.The Grand Mosque of Copenhagen
, The Copenhagen Post, April 26, 2007

History

In September 2013, as the mosque was still under construction, critics rose about the plan to broadcast the official

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...

-run

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

channel

Al-Aqsa TV Al-Aqsa TV ( ar, قناة الأقصى) is a television channel run by Hamas, which is based in the Gaza Strip. Its programs include news and propaganda promoting Hamas, children's shows (such as ''Tomorrow's Pioneers'', that promotes violence ...

in the media center of the mosque, Hamas being blacklisted as a terrorist organization in the European Union (of which Denmark is a member). In June 2014, the

Danish Islamic Council The Danish Islamic Council ( da, Dansk Islamisk Råd) is a Danish Islamic organization representing Sunni Muslims in Denmark. History The council was initiated in 2000, by the politician Hamid El-Mousti and gathered 30 associations of Muslims ...

opened the Grand Mosque of Copenhagen (officially Hamad Bin Khalifa Civilisation Center, after the Emir of Qatar

Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Hamad bin Abdullah bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani ( ar, حمد بن خليفة الثاني; born 1 January 1952) is a member of the ruling Al Thani Qatari royal family. He was the ruling Emir of Qatar from 1995 ...

), the country's largest

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, ...

, and the first one with a minaret.

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

provided $27 million to finance the construction, which led the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

to express their concerns about potential Qatari interference of in Danish domestic affairs. The

Danish royal family The Danish royal family is the dynastic family of the monarch. All members of the Danish royal family except Queen Margrethe II hold the title of ''Prince/Princess of Denmark''. Dynastic children of the monarch and of the heir apparent are accor ...

and government ministers were invited to attend the opening but declined the invitation, with only Copenhagen's deputy mayor for social issues Jesper Christensen attending. It was agreed with the municipality of Copenhagen that the minaret would not be used to broadcast a

call to prayer A call to prayer is a summons for participants of a faith to attend a group worship or to begin a required set of prayers. The call is one of the earliest forms of telecommunication, communicating to people across great distances. All religions ...

. The group

Stop Islamisation of Denmark Stop Islamisation of Denmark ( da, Stop Islamiseringen af Danmark) is a Danish anti-Islamic organisation founded in 2005. The group has been active in campaigning against the building of mosques in Denmark and has staged free speech demonstrati ...

had planned to protest in front of the building the day of its opening, but was banned by the police. In 2020,

Berlingske ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, ''Berling's Times''), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' ...

newspaper reported that the mosque had received 227 million Danish crowns (more than 23 million euro) from investors in Qatar.

Description

The mosque was designed by the Danish architects Jan Wenzel & Lars Tuxen and is the property of the

. It has the capacity to host 3,000 people indoors, and an extra 1,500 in an inner

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

. The mosque's exterior is made of

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

, glass and polished concrete. Many architectural elements symbolize the link of the building with

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...

References

External links

Official website
2014 establishments in Denmark Mosques completed in 2014 Mosques in Denmark Religious buildings and structures in Copenhagen Salafi movement

{{Denmark-struct-stub

History

Description

See also

References

External links