One of the best architectural pearls of St. Petersburg, right in the downtown of the city. This beautiful mosque has been open since 1913 and at one point the largest mosque in Europe outside of Turkey holding 5000 worshipers!! The facades are decorated with sayings from the Koran in characteristic kufi and sulsscripts. Internal columns are made from green marble. Women pray on the first floor, above the western part of the hall. The mosque was covered in huge carpets, especially woven by Central Asian craftsmen. 

In 1940, the temple was closed. On Fridays and holidays, believers prayed on the Muslim side of the Novo-Volkovskoye cemetery, and the beautiful religious building served as a medical warehouse and deteriorated gradually. The Tatar community’s petitions about the return of the Mosque to believers were satisfied in 1955, and worship was resumed in the cathedral. Unfortunately, many decorative ceramic plates were damaged or destroyed during the Soviet period. Now the lost majolica is replaced by porcelain.

Besides all of this it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. My first visit to a mosque was the great Abu Dhabi mosque and I was stunned with such beauty, so this is totally on my bucket list. Did you know there is actually a legend that an underground passage passes from the Emir of Bukhara’s house to the Mosque? I want to find it now!!

How to visit:

If you're muslism and you want to do a religious visit - In addition to the five-day daily worship, additional spiritual events are held: