Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, took part in the grand opening of a new mosque in the republic's capital. The building became the largest mosque in Central Asia, the Kazakh news agency Kazinform reported on Friday.
"On this holy Friday, we are opening a beautiful mosque in our capital city. This is an important event not only for our capital city, but also for all our citizens, Muslims," Nazarbayev said, the agency quotes him as saying.
As the first president of Kazakhstan noted, many new buildings have been built in the capital during the years of the country's independence. "With independence, we are opening mosques in all regions of the country. May Allah hear all the prayers recited in these mosques. The day before my termination in March 2019, I laid the first brick of the mosque, the current president of the country Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was with me," recalled Nazarbayev.
The mosque will be the biggest in Kazakhstan and Central Asia, Nazarbayev said. The height of its main dome is almost 90 m, and minarets rise at a height of 130 m.
The construction of the mosque started in the spring of 2019 on the initiative of Nazarbayev. The building occupies 10 hectares of area. The total area of the construction is more than 68 thousand square meters. The total capacity of the mosque is 235 thousand people. Nur-Sultan Mosque is one of the world's ten largest mosques by capacity.
The first and second floors of the building fit prayer rooms as well as classrooms, a conference hall, a wedding hall, a Quran reading hall, a TV studio, offices, staff rooms, stores, a museum and technical premises. The ground floor of the mosque has a banquet hall, technical and ritual services, a place for sacrifice and other facilities.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS