# Duisburg Cathedral Mosque

The Duisburg Cathedral Mosque is the largest mosque in Germany. Located in the city of Duisburg in the west of Germany, a building with a silver dome 23 metres (75 ft) high and a minaret 34 metres (112 ft) high. The mosque has a community center and a religious school. The initiator of the mosque in Duisburg was the local Muslim community.

## History

Duisburg is one of the cities in the Ruhr region of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). The main branches of industry are ferrous metallurgy and mechanical engineering. A significant part of the population of Duisburg are foreigners. According to 2015 census data, approximately 64% of foreigners living in the city were ethnic Turks. Most of the Turkish emigrants came to Germany in the 1960s as guest workers, and they performed low-paid and physically hard work that the local Germans did not agree to. According to a study on the integration of foreigners into German society conducted by the University of Duisburg-Essen in 2014, Turkish residents of Duisburg are the least integrated into German society.
After Berlin, Duisburg is home to the second largest Turkish community in Germany. The area of Marksloh (German: Marxloh), where the mosque was built, resembles Turkish cities: signs are in Turkish, the Turkish population prevails.
Most of the Turkish migrants in Duisburg today are employed in trade. They open Turkish restaurants, Turkish cafes and eateries in the city, the so-called Donerbuden (German: Dönerbude — doner kebab eatery).
The construction of a mosque in Duisburg was initiated by Muslim women with the support of Laila Ezmal, the authorized representative of the city magistrate for the integration of migrants.

## Architecture

The mosque was opened on 26 October 2008. It has a 23-metre-high (75 ft) silver dome and a 34-metre-high (112 ft) minaret. Inside the mosque there is a hall for 1,200 people, a community center and a school. The construction cost of the mosque was approximately 7.5 million euros (6 million pounds), about half was funded by the European Union and North Rhine-Westphalia, the other part by the Turkish Muslim community of Ditib.
The interior of the mosque is richly decorated with gold, turquoise, red and white paintings, and the room is illuminated by golden chandeliers. The mosque was named «Muradiye». At the opening of the mosque, the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Jürgen Rüttgers delivered a speech to the representatives of the German and Turkish public who had gathered in connection with this event. Ali Bardakodlu, president of Turkey's highest religious body, came to the opening of Germany's largest mosque. The media noted that the opening of the mosque in Duisburg, unlike some other German cities, took place in a calm atmosphere.
The Muslim community of the city is considered quite liberal. She takes part in ecumenical meetings with representatives of Christian churches and hopes that the new mosque will become «the center of intercultural and interreligious dialogue». At the opening ceremony of the mosque, Mehmet Ozay, head of the Ditib Turkish-Islamic Union in Marksloh, said: «We have nothing to hide, so it’s time to say goodbye to our mosques that were hidden in the backyard.»