Tallinn officials on January 8 announced they were beginning discussions about constructing a large mosque in the capital, saying it will be Estonia's first and the largest in northern Europe.
Published:
21 January 2001 y., Sunday
The country's tiny Azerbaijani community is taking the lead in raising the estimated 3-6 million dollars needed to build the mosque, usually the focus of religious life for followers of Islam.
Estonia has just a few thousand Muslims—mostly people who immigrated here from Soviet republics in Central Asia and Azerbaijan, during Moscow rule.
Most of Estonia's 1.4 million population are Lutheran or Orthodox, though all forms of religious practice were officially outlawed during 50 years of Soviet occupation.
Tallinn Mayor Jüri Mõis argued that the new mosque would add to the diversity of the capital, now dominated by several new skyscrapers and hundreds of German merchant houses built in the Middle Ages.He added that the project would pump large amounts of money into the local economy. Officials said the development was still in the early planning stages, and they didn't say when final approval for the project would be given or how soon construction could begin.
The current draft plans for the Tallinn mosque were modeled after a mosque in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, in the southern Caucasus. The mosque would serve the Islamic community in the 10 countries around the Baltic Sea, and it would welcome adherents of both major branches of Islam—Shiites and Sunni.
Šaltinis:
balticsww.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Moon bears pierced with metal tubes to extract an ingredient used in medicine have been saved from captivity in China.
more »
Georgian acrobat Ramaz Garshaulishvili is trying to revive interest in the circus by demonstrating his rope walking skills.
more »
The latest trend for New Yorkers who are low on storage space - storing clothes in the oven and kitchen cupboards.
more »
Around the world 10 million people live in refugee camps - more than the population of several small European Union countries combined.
more »
On World Press Freedom Day on 3 May the Commission will officially launch the Lorenzo Natali Prize for 2010.
more »
What was once some of Albania's most beautiful coastline has been turned into toxic dumping grounds. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
more »
A set of two-square-metre capsule apartments in Beijing give struggling individuals a chance to have their own space.
more »
The World Bank is adding its weight to efforts to save the world's endangered tigers.
more »
The statue of the Little Mermaid that has sat atop Copenhagen's harbour for nearly a hundred years is unveiled at the Shanghai World Expo.
more »
Beijing city officials have come up with a novel way to combat the stench of the city's growing rubbish tips.
more »