Great Mosque

 

 

As one of the four biggest mosques in China, Great Mosque is to the northwest of the Drum Tower. It is a time-honored and large-scale architecture complex, which shows the interpenetration between Islamic belief and Chinese culture. It is in the list of National Cultural Heritage Conservation Units.

The mosque was initially constructed in 742. It has a total area of 13,000 square meters. Inside the mosque, there are many ancient buildings, such as the 9-meter-high wooden memorial archway, the origin of which can be traced back to the 17th century, the south and north anterooms, the stone memorial archway, Chici Temple, Shengxin building, and Yizhen Pavilion, etc. On the stone memorial archway, there are inscriptions of Mi Fu and Dong Qichang, who were famous calligraphers in ancient China. Yizhen Pavilion is also called Phoenix Pavilion due to the fact that the pavilion looks like a phoenix spreading its wings for flying. There is also a main temple in the mosque. The main temple is used for worshipping. It can house more than one thousand people.

The mosque features ancient buildings, Ming-or-Qing-style furniture, and completely engraved the Koran. Its architectural style is Chinese while its decoration strictly conforms to the Islamic rules. That’s why it is one of the world’s Islamic relics.