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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
Erdogan is ordering the construction of mosques much as Suleiman the Magnificent once gave orders to Mimar Sinan. But as Bozdogan points out, there were many styles of mosques throughout the Ottoman Empire; in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries...Erdogan, however, sees such 18th- and 19th-century mosques as a contamination, not purely Turkish like the mosques of the 16th century. — NYT Magazine
Suzy H. Hansen visits Turkey, where Erdogan’s AK Party and TOKI (the national housing commission) have overseen a boom in construction and urban re/development. Including of houses of worship designed to reference a "golden age" of Turkish identity, while also furthering the... View full entry
In the first case of its kind, the Islamic extremist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi has today (22 August), pleaded guilty to war crimes for destroying historic monuments in the ancient city of Timbuktu in northern Mali. Al-Mahdi is accused of ordering the razing of nine mausoleums and the 15th-century Sidi Yahia mosque. It is the first time the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has heard a case about the demolition of cultural heritage. — theartnewspaper.com
Learn more about Timbuktu's outstanding value as a world heritage site on UNESCO's website.Related stories in the Archinect news:Palmyra after ISIS: a first look at the level of destructionDestruction of Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery by ISIS militants went unreported for 16 monthsFear grows... View full entry
A mosque, a church and a synagogue go up on the site of an old Jewish country club ...
It sounds like the setup to a joke — but it's not. It's actually happening in Omaha, Neb. The Tri-Faith Initiative may be the first place in history where these three monotheistic faiths have built together, on purpose, with the intention of working together. [...]
Similar initiatives are underway elsewhere. One in Berlin would house all three religions in a single building.
— npr.org
Similar tri-faith building initiatives are also germinating in other parts of the world: A church-mosque-synagogue, in Berlin View full entry
At least 52 people were killed when a crane crashed in Mecca’s Grand Mosque on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority said on its Twitter account.It said 30 people were injured.
The Muslim annual Haj pilgrimage is due later this month and Saudi authorities go to great lengths to be prepared for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca.
— theguardian.com
A court in Venice has refused to fast-track a legal claim filed by the Icelandic Art Center (IAC) seeking the reopening of artist Christoph Büchel’s mosque, which launched earlier this year in a disused church in Venice as part of the Biennale.
The IAC is the commissioner of the controversial project, which was housed in the former Catholic church [...]. The mosque closed at the end of May after only two weeks when city officials claimed that it breached health and safety regulations.
— theartnewspaper.com
Previously in the Archinect News: Police Shut Down Mosque Installation at Venice Biennale View full entry
The police in Venice closed an art installation in the form of a functioning mosque on Friday morning, after city officials declared the art project a security hazard and said that the artist who created it, Christoph Büchel, had not obtained proper permits and had violated laws by allowing too many people inside the mosque to worship. — NYT
"There is no mosque in Venice, so the thousands of Muslim tourists visiting Venice must pray in a converted factory in Mestre, which is the polluted part of Venice.This until the swiss artist Buechler converted an abandoned and unused former catholic church into a functioning mosque for the... View full entry
Muslims in Copenhagen can look forward to getting a new place of worship as Copenhagen Municipality has approved a planning application for a new, modern-looking mosque this week by the Muslim faith group Islamisk Trossamfund.
The new mosque, which will be designed by the renowned architect firm Henning Larsen Architects, will replace a current mosque located on the corner of Dortheavej and Tomsgårdsvej in the Nordvest district of the city.
— The Copenhagen Post
