Putin, Erdogan, Abbas attend opening of Moscow’s Grand Mosque

MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/. Russian, Turkish and Palestinian leaders Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Mahmoud Abbas are attending the opening ceremony of Moscow’s Grand Mosque. The heads of the Russian republics of Chechnya, Tatarstan, Ingushetia and Dagestan, as well as the Moscow mayor are also taking part in the ceremony. The event also brought together thousands of Muslims. Moscow’s Grand Mosque has opened after a decade of construction work to become one of the biggest places of worship in Europe. As a result of the construction work, the building’s floor space has been increased twenty-fold to 19,000 square meters and the mosque will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 people simultaneously. The mosque was originally expected to open in May 2016, but authorities decided to speed up the work and hold the opening ceremony this year celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Russia’s largest, the Heart of Chechnya, is located in Chechnya’s capital Grozny and can accommodate more than 10,000 worshippers. The Grand Mosque in Moscow, built in 1904, is the second largest and has been under reconstruction since 2005, costing some $170 million. The decision to step up the construction of mosques in Moscow comes amid a significant growth of the Muslim population. Russia is home to a total of 23 million Muslims representing 38 peoples, according to the Council of Muftis. In Moscow, Muslims account for at least 2 million or one in six citizens is Muslim. Read more