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A number of marble tiles on the floor of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was turned back into a mosque in 2020 after serving as a historical museum for decades, have reportedly been cracked by heavy machinery used to clean the building last week. — Artnet News
“It’s like a fairground now,” one tour guide reportedly told the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet in reference to the change in status that occurred in 2020, when the site was reconverted into a mosque and conferred back into the auspices of the Department of Religious Affairs... View full entry
The UNESCO-led effort to restore the historic Al-Nouri Mosque in Mosul has come to a halt this week after recent discoveries and feedback from the community have prompted a change of direction from the cultural agency. The Art Newspaper reports that the restoration was placed on hold after months... View full entry
A bright new spiritual center is finally open in Al Quoz, the industrial heart of Dubai. Dabbagh Architects is behind one of the first mosques in the Emirates ever designed by a female architect. Photo: Gerry O’Leary A masterwork of materiality and form, the newly-completed mosque... View full entry
But in many circles, it has done anything but, prompting an uproar among architects, urban planners and some Mosul residents who say it ignores Iraqi heritage. Perhaps in a nod to the United Arab Emirates, which is footing the bill, the winning design features cream-colored brick and straight angles of the kind found in the Gulf — a contrast to the arches, blue-veined local alabaster and limestone of traditional Mosul buildings. — The New York Times
An 8-member team of Egyptian architects had initially been selected from a lot of 123 for their "Courtyards Dialogue" proposal that will add a cultural center and school to a storied 12th-century mosque complex. The mosque features a leaning minaret that earned its famous nickname of "The... View full entry
UNESCO has unveiled plans for the reconstruction of the Al-Nouri Mosque complex in Mosul, Iraq. The proposal, titled “Courtyards Dialogue”, was pieced together by Egyptian architects Salah El Din Samir Hareedy, Khaled Farid El-Deeb, Sherif Farag Ebrahim, Tarek Ali Mohamed, Noha Mansour Ryan... View full entry
On the site of a church torn down by East Germany’s communist rulers, a new place of worship is set to rise that will bring Christians, Jews and Muslims under one roof – and it has already been dubbed a “churmosquagogue”. — The Guardian
Designed by Berlin-based architects Kuehn Malvezzi, the $57 million House of One project for the historic Petriplatz in Germany's capital has been in a lengthy planning process for the past ten years. Previously on Archinect: Designing the House of One, a Worship Space for Three Religions by Kuehn... View full entry
According to Duvar English, the Syrian government has announced that it will build a replica of Instanbul's Hagia Sophia after the Turkish government recently converted it into a mosque. Moscow will provide funding for the project "to show the importance of 'peaceful dialogue' between... View full entry
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree Friday ordering Hagia Sophia to be opened for Muslim prayers, an action likely to provoke international furor around a World Heritage Site cherished by Christians and Muslims alike for its religious significance, stunning structure and as a symbol of conquest. — The New York Times
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan followed through on his plan today to convert Istanbul's famed Hagia Sophia, a Unesco world heritage site, into a mosque. The presidential decree was issued within minutes after Turkey’s administrative court revoked the museum status that the... View full entry
The Greek government says that Turkey will violate Unesco’s conservation rules if President Recep Tayyip Erdogan moves ahead with plans to turn the historic Hagia Sophia site in Istanbul—currently a museum—into a mosque. — The Art Newspaper
After plans by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to turn Istanbul's most iconic historic site from a museum into a mosque caused international condemnation last year, Unesco has now been invited by the Greek government to weigh in on the proposed conversion, reports The Art Newspaper... View full entry
Footage showing smoke and fire emerging from the roof of a structure known as the Marwani Prayer Room, or Solomon's Stables...The Palestine News Agency, the official outlet of the Palestinian National Authority, cited a guard as saying Monday that "the fire broke out in the guard's room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of the Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully."
No injuries or damage was reported during the short blaze.
— Newsweek
On the same day that a harrowing fire damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, some nerves were rattled at the fire that broke out yesterday in the Marwani Prayer Room in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The fire is said to have occurred above the prayer hall in an... View full entry
The spiritual architecture of Swiss architect Mario Botta is the subject of an exhibition at the Ringturm Exhibition Centre in Vienna. Building studies, drawings, and photography are brought side by side to reach an understanding of how Botta conceptualizes and designs religious experiences through the built environment. — Wallpaper
Religious places of worship often prompt a sense of reverence and deep reflection. For some these sacred buildings provide peace, and for others perhaps a bit of anxiety. Nonetheless, Swiss architect Mario Botta has designed and completed 22 religious buildings during his 50-year career as an... View full entry
Hundreds of Muslims in north-western China are engaged in a standoff with authorities to prevent their mosque from being demolished.
Officials said the newly built Weizhou Grand Mosque in the Ningxia region had not been given proper building permits.
But worshippers refused to back down. One resident said they would not "let the government touch the mosque".
— BBC
The new mosque was completed only last year, and city authorities initially wanted it torn down by Friday, citing a lack of proper planning and construction permits. Amid public outrage, authorities softened their demolition order to a "rectification plan" that demanded a less 'Arab' and more... View full entry
The dominant theme is that of the expression of identity, the overwhelming preference in British mosque design being for traditional elements and decoration – especially dome, minaret and arches – applied to sometimes basic box-like structures. From time to time the cry goes up, including in Jonathan Glancey’s introduction to this book, that a “contemporary” Islamic British style should be developed. — The Guardian
There are about 1,500 mosques in Britain most of which have been designed in the last decade. Rowan Moore reviews architect and academic Shahed Saleem's book The British Mosque, a survey looking at why British mosque design is mostly traditional. Saleem presents both sides of the argument for... View full entry
But the Vali-e-Asr mosque, designed by the Iranian architects Reza Daneshmir and Catherine Spiridonoff, is stirring controversy in a country that hosts some of the world’s most glittering places of worship. Iranian hardliners are refusing to recognise it as a mosque, complaining that it does not have a minaret or proper dome, and that it is dwarfed by the theatre. [...]
The conservative Mashregh News said: [...] It was “an insulting, postmodern design” that is “empty of any meaning”, it said.
— The Guardian
Designed by Iranian Fluid Motion Architects and nearly 10 years in the making, the modern appearance of the almost completed Vali-e-Asr mosque in Tehran is facing harsh opposition from Iran's conservative establishment. "The Vali-e-Asr mosque doesn’t have a minaret, nor a dome; neither did the... View full entry
The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on 17 August, that an Islamic extremist caused €2.7m in damages when he destroyed shrines in Timbuktu, Mali, in 2012. This is the first time that the ICC has made a ruling solely on cultural destruction, setting an important precedent. [...]
Islamic extremists used pickaxes and bulldozers to destroy nine mausoleums and the centuries-old door of the Sidi Yahya mosque, built during a golden age of Islam [...].
— theartnewspaper.com
By ruling that "the destruction of the protected buildings has caused the suffering of people throughout Mali and the international community," the International Criminal Court in The Hague acknowledged the demolition of cultural heritage as a war crime — potentially treating recent acts of... View full entry
