Id Kah Mosque

Florida Splendid China Exhibit #30

Located in Kashgar,
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
(Eastern Turkestan)

Date Building Started: prior to 700 AD

700 AD: Zulpia, an Uighur, started restoration of existing structure

Other exhibits from Xinjiang (Eastern Turkestan):Tomb of Apak Hoja

References
Why we object to the inclusion of religious exhibits
Why we object to the inclusion of 'minority' exhibits
Lonely Planet
According to the Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit on China (4th ed.), the Id Kah mosque is not of Chinese architecture as other mosques in China, but looks like it is from Pakistan or Afghanistan, with a central dome. Prayer time is around 10 PM and varies throughout the year.
New World Press
According to an article in New World Press, Beijing, 1989, The Id Kah Mosque, a grand Islamic structure located in the center of the city of Kashi (Kashgar), has a history of more than five-hundred years. Shakesimirzha, the ruler of Kashgar, had the mosque built here first in 1422, where he would say prayers to the souls of his deceased relatives. Extended and renovated time and again through the ages, it has finally reached its present size and shape.
The mosque, 140 meters long from south to north and 120 meters from east to west, covers an area of 16,800 square meters and consists of the Hall of Prayer, the Doctrine-Teaching Hall, the gate tower, a pond and some other auxiliary structures. The gate of the mosque, built of yellow bricks with the joints of the brick work pointed with gypsum, has distinct lines. On both sides of the gate are eighteen-meter high round brick columns half imbedded in the wall. On top of the columns stands a tower where the imam would call out loudly at dawn every day to wake up the Muslims and summon them to attend service in the mosque. In the tree-graced courtyard, there is a pond, and on its bank many pottery pots are placed, which are to be used by the Islam believers to clean their bodies. the main hall with wide eaves is 160 meters long and sixteen meters wide. The hall's ceiling, with fine wooden carvings and colorful flower-and-plant painting patterns, is supported by one hundred carved wooden columns. In the middle part of the main hall, there is a deep shrine in which a stepped throne is placed. During service, the First Maola stands in the shrine to lead the prayer. And on Fridays or Corban, the First Maola conducts Wa z , standing on the steps of the throne. After entering the main hall, the followers would seat themselves facing west both inside and out, in proper lines.

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Last updated 03-13-03