Khan's Mosque in

Kasimov Kasimov (russian: Каси́мов; tt-Cyrl, Касыйм;, Ханкирмән,Ханкирмән, Хан-Кермень, means " Khan's fortress" historically Gorodets Meshchyorsky, Novy Nizovoy) is a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia, located on the ...

is the oldest

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 Central

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It dates from the

Qasim Khanate Qasim Khanate or Kingdom of Qasim or Khanate of Qasım ( tt-Cyrl, Касыйм ханлыгы/Касыйм патшалыгы; russian: Касимовское ханство/Касимовское царство, ''Kasimovskoye khanstvo/Kasimo ...

of the 15th and 16th centuries. According to Kadir Ali, the brick mosque was built by

Shahghali Shahghali, also Shah Ali or Shah Ghaly, (Tatar: ''Şahğäli'', pronounced , or ''Şäyex Ğäli'', ) (1505–1567) was khan of the Qasim Khanate and the Khanate of Kazan. He ruled the Qasim Khanate for much of his life and three times tried to r ...

at some point in the mid-16th century. Others believe that the mosque goes back to the reign of

Qasim Khan Qasím Khan (or ''Qasim of Kasimov'') (died 1469) was the first khan of the Tatar Qasim Khanate, from 1452 to his death in 1469. He was the son of Kazan khan Oluğ Möxämmäd. He participated in the battles of Belyov in 1437 and of Suzdal in ...

.http://archeologia.narod.ru/kasim.htm The original building was torn down at the behest of

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

in 1702, but its wide stone

minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

survives. The existing mosque was erected next to the old minaret in 1768. The local

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

nobles had a second storey added in 1835. A little closer to the

Oka River The Oka (russian: Ока́, ) is a river in central Russia, the largest right tributary of the Volga. It flows through the regions of Oryol, Tula, Kaluga, Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir and Nizhny Novgorod and is navigable over a large part of its ...

is another local landmark, Shahghali's Mausoleum from the mid-16th century. The Khan's Mosque has been designated a public

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

since the 1930s. The minimalist design of the minaret, with its unadorned walls, reminds of that of the famous Guangta Minaret of

Huaisheng Mosque The Huaisheng Mosque (; also known as the Lighthouse Mosque and the Great Mosque of Canton) is the main mosque of Guangzhou. Rebuilt many times over its history, it is traditionally thought to have been originally built over 1,300 years ago, ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, in South China.

References

External links

Guide to Russia: Kasimov
Buildings and structures in Ryazan Oblast Mosques in Russia Museums in Ryazan Oblast Local museums in Russia Destroyed mosques Closed mosques in the Soviet Union 1768 establishments in the Russian Empire Mosque buildings with domes Religious buildings and structures completed in 1768 Mosques in Europe Objects of cultural heritage of Russia of federal significance Cultural heritage monuments in Ryazan Oblast {{Russia-mosque-stub

See also

References

External links