Saint Petersburg Cathedral Mosque

The Cathedral Mosque of Saint Petersburg, on Kronverksky Prospect, is the largest mosque built in the European part of the Russian Empire and one of the striking monuments of Northern Art Nouveau with Eastern motifs. The idea of building a mosque arose as early as the late 18th century, when Muslim servicemen requested a house of prayer, but the project could only be realized after the 1905 manifestos on freedom of religion. A special committee led the collection of donations across the empire, and decisive support for the construction came from the Emir of Bukhara, Seyid Abdul-Ahad Khan, who provided land and substantial funds.

The building's design was chosen through an architectural competition held in 1907–1908, whose jury included Leonty Benois and Fyodor Lidval; the winning design was by architect Nikolai Vasilyev, further developed by engineer Stepan Krichinsky, with overall construction oversight led by academician Alexander von Hohen. The authors drew inspiration from the architecture of Samarkand: the facades are adorned with quotations from the Quran and ornamentation copied from the Shah-i-Zinda and Gur-e-Amir mosques, the latter being the burial place of Tamerlane. The building is faced with grey granite and blue majolica, while the dome and minarets are made of reinforced concrete — an advanced technology for the early 20th century. The main ribbed dome reaches a height of 39 meters, and the two slender minarets rise to 48 meters. The mosaic decoration of the portal and domes was produced by craftsmen of the "Heldwein-Vaulin" ceramics workshops near Gatchina.

The ceremonial foundation was laid in 1910 in the presence of the Emir of Bukhara, and the official opening took place in February 1913, timed to the 300th anniversary celebrations of the House of Romanov, with the participation of the rulers of Bukhara and Khiva. The finishing work was not fully completed until 1920, already after the revolution. The mosque remained active longer than many of the city's churches, but the authorities closed it in 1940, and the building was used as a warehouse. Significant damage was inflicted on the building when the majolica cladding of the dome was destroyed in the late 1970s.

The mosque's revival began in the 1980s, when restorers developed a technology for recreating the lost tiles, and large-scale restoration work was completed in 2003 with the ceremonial opening of the main portal. Today the Cathedral Mosque is an active spiritual center for Saint Petersburg's Muslim community and one of the architectural landmarks of the Petrogradskaya Side, attracting many tourists every year with its striking Eastern appearance.