page_title: Cambridge Central Mosque
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Cambridge Central Mosque / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Cambridge Central Mosque column detail in May 2019.
context_page_description: The Cambridge Central Mosque is Europe's first eco-friendly mosque and the first purpose-built mosque within the city of Cambridge, England. Its mandate is to meet the needs of the Muslim community in the UK and beyond by facilitating good practice in faith, community development, social cohesion & interfaith dialogue. The Cambridge Central Mosque was opened to the public on 24 April 2019.
context_section_description: The Muslim Academic Trust (MAT) proposed the site location to be situated in the Romsey area of Mill Road in Cambridge. Thereafter, the Cambridge Mosque Project was established in 2008 by Dr Timothy Winter, a lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Cambridge, to raise funds for the project.
  After the £4m purchase of a one-acre site in 2009 on Mill Road, Marks Barfield Architects was appointed to design the new mosque in association with Professor Keith Critchlow, a world leading expert in sacred architecture and Islamic geometry along with the UK's leading Islamic garden designer Emma Clark. Marks Barfield Architects are known for innovative designs such as the London Eye and Kew Gardens Treetop Walk, to name a few. Plans for the mosque were submitted to the Cambridge City Council by the MAT and it was approved by the council in 2012.  The project however was controversial and it was met with objections.
  With its emphasis on sustainability and high reliance on green energy, the mosque will be Europe's first eco-mosque. In addition to the mosque's dedicated areas (ablution, teaching, children's area, morgue) there will be a café, teaching area and meeting rooms for use by the local Muslim and non-Muslim communities and will accommodate up to 1000 worshippers.
  Donors from Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Americas have supported the project, but most of the donations, around two-third of the total, have come from Turkey. Construction started in September 2016, was completed in March 2019, and the mosque opened to the public on 24 April 2019.
caption: Detail of column and ceiling
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