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Index
Stralau
Walk
Cemetery
Hall. Tor
Franciscan
Monastery
St'
Michael's Church
Room
of Silence
Bo
Mun Sa Tempel
Buddhist
House
Lübars
Village Green
Russian
Church
Marienfelde
Green
Treptow
Crematorium
Church
Hohenzollernpl
Ahmadiyya
Mosque
Heerstraße
Cemetery
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Just before the junction of Berliner Straße and Hohenzollerndamm, one
becomes aware of the mosque's whitewashed minarets, parapet and dome
gleaming through a dense layer of trees. The Ahmadiyya Mosque is now the
oldest building of its kind in Germany. Modelled on the burial mosques of
Indian Mogul princes, it was constructed between 1924 and 1928 and designed
by Berlin architect K.A. Hermann.
An earlier mosque, financed by the German government, was built in 1915 in
Wünsdorf, some fifty kilometres south of Berlin. This was intended for
Muslim prisoners of war and was demolished again in 1930.
The Wilmersdorf mosque was commissioned by the Ahmadiyya Anjuman – a
religious community from Lahore, Pakistan, which also raised the money to
finance the building. It was only possible to construct the 32-metre high
minarets after the women of the community had sold their jewellery and
donated the profits. The mosque was badly damaged in the Second World War.
German marksmen directed machine guns from the minarets onto Russian
soldiers who were entrenched in a neighbouring cemetery. The minarets were
reduced to stumps a few metres high.
Both Indian and British military authorities were involved with the
reconstruction of the mosque, and not until 1993 was the building put under
a preservation order. At the end of the 1990s, the adjacent house was
redeveloped and one of the minarets rebuilt. The completed spire for the
second minaret sits in the garden, as though to encourage the sponsors to
support further work: rebuilding the tower, overhauling the dome and the new
l garden layout.
What began as an Islamic mission has become a place of contact and peace.
The softening of European prejudice against Islam could really become its
most important task. The pleasant place of prayer serves only a very small
community, and sees itself more as an Islamic information centre. The mosque
is regularly open for Friday prayers. Visits outside these times can be
arranged by telephone. |
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Address: Brienner Str.
7-8 10713 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 873 57 03
Fax: +49 30 873 07 83
Bus, Tube, Tram: U 3, U 7
Fehrbelliner Platz; Bus 115 Hoffmann-von-Fallersleben-Platz
Hours of Prayer: Fri 13.00
(in winter); 13.30 (in summer)
E-Mail: DieMoschee@aaiil.org
Home Page: www.muslim.org
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