http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Mosque_project he Cologne Mosque project (German: DITIB-Zentralmoschee Köln, Turkish: Merkez-Camii) is a project by German Muslims of the Organization DITIB to build a large, representative Zentralmoschee (central mosque)[1] in Cologne, Germany. After some controversy, the project won the approval of Cologne's city council.[2]
The mosque is designed in Ottoman architectural style, with glass walls, two minarets and a dome. The mosque is proposed to have a bazaar as well as other secular areas intended for interfaith interactions. As the mosque will be one of Europe's biggest, it has been criticized for its size, particularly the height of the minarets.[3]
Contents
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* 1 Background
* 2 Design
* 3 Controversy
* 4 See also
* 5 References
[edit] Background
Cologne has 120,000 Muslims, who make up 12% of the city's population. The current mosque is deemed inadequate for their religious needs.[4][5] Its small size has created hardships for Cologne's Muslims, especially during festivals, when the mosque attendees must worship in the parking lot.[6] Cologne also has nearly 30 other mosques, but most are not visible as they are situated in hidden courtyards and converted factories.[7] The proposed mosque is to replace the current mosque, which can house up to 600 worshipers, and is located in a former pharmaceutical factory.
[edit] Design
The 48,000-square-foot (4,500 m2) mosque will cost £15–20 million to build,[5] aiming to house 2,000 to 4,000 worshippers.[6][8] The proposed mosque will be funded by Diyanet İşleri Türk İslam Birliği (DITIB), a branch of the Turkish government's religious affairs authority,[9] bank loans, and donations from 884 Muslim associations.[8] Cologne's St. Theodore Catholic Church has also decided to fundraise for the mosque.[10] The architect of the mosque is Paul Böhm,[11] who specializes in building churches.[12]
The planned mosque would be in the Ottoman architecture style. It would have a concrete and glass dome, and two 55 meter high minarets.[9] The mosque will have the bazaar and entrance on the ground floor, lecture halls in the basement, the prayer area on the upper floor and include a Muslim library.[6] A well is intended to be placed in the center to connect the two levels and to create a pleasant atmosphere. The mosque consists of flat-like wall screens which form a dome in the center.[1]
It will also have glass walls, which according to DITIB spokesman Alboga will give visitors a feeling of openness.[13] According to the architect, openness is further enhanced by an inviting staircase from the street, and the structure symbolizes "a place where religions could meet".[12] The developers have required that the secular areas of the mosque (e.g. the restaurant, event halls and stores) be a forum open to people from all confessions.[12]
DITIB said it took many steps to "avoid touching nerves". The organization agreed to various stipulations, including a ban on broadcasting the call to prayer over loudspeakers outside the building. The mosque is not taller than any of its neighbors; it is flanked by office buildings, and dwarfed by a nearby television tower.[7] The height of the minarets is about a one-third the height of the cathedral’s spires.[7] According to Mark Landler, Cologne's skyline, featuring the greatest Gothic cathedral in Germany and more than a dozen Romanesque churches, would not be altered by adding a pair of fluted minarets.[13] The mosque will be situated two miles (3 km) from the Cologne cathedral.[5]
Although initially DITIB it was reluctant,[9] it later planned to shorten the minarets, a compromise welcomed by Cologne mayor Fritz Schramma. However, the plans were dropped after the architects said the plan would leave the minarets out of proportion with the rest of the building and surrounding structures.[3]
[edit] Controversy
The project has been opposed by German-Jewish author Ralph Giordano,[7][5] local residents, right-wing groups, and neo-Nazis.[5] Bekir Alboga, leader of inter-religious dialogue of DITIB, argued the line between frank debate and racist demagoguery is not so clear. "This is like thinking from the Middle Ages", he said, "and it is sending the racists to the barricades".[7] Jörg Uckermann, the district's deputy mayor, has criticized the project saying that "We don't want to build a Turkish ghetto in Ehrenfeld. I know about Londonistan and I don't want that here."[5]
Local politician Markus Wiener, of the right-wing group Pro Köln, expressed his fear that the Cologne mosque will empower the Muslim population too much.[14] Pro Köln, which holds 5 of the 90 seats in the city council, collected 23,000 signatures on a petition demanding the halting of the project. The city, however, says only 15,000 of them were genuine.[7] Pro Cologne is dismissed by Giordano as a “local chapter of contemporary National Socialists”[7] and by Schramma as "arsonists and racists".[15]
On June 16, 2007, 200 people gathered in a protest organized by Pro Cologne against the mosque with representatives from the Austrian Freedom Party and the Belgian Vlaams Belang,[6][7] both parties that advocate the deportation of immigrants.[13] In response, Turkish leaders and Cologne's deputy mayor held a counter demonstration.[7]
Many residents reject the mosque because they believe that Cologne is a “Christian city”.[16] The prominent German-Jewish author Ralph Giordano stated that he opposed the project as the mosque would be “an expression of the creeping Islamization of our land”, a “declaration of war”,[14] and that he wouldn't want to see women wearing burqas on German streets, likening their appearance to “human penguins”. Henryk M. Broder, a Jewish journalist, disagrees with Giordano's metaphor but said that “A mosque is more than a church or a synagogue. It is a political statement.”[7] Giordano's remarks have turned the local dispute into a national debate about the place of Islam in Germany.[7] and other prominent Germans criticized the project as well. District mayor Uckermann stated that Giordano's comments “broke down the wall. Before if you criticised this monstrous mosque you were a Nazi. But we have a problem with the integration of Muslims. It's a question of language and culture.”[5]
The city's mayor, Fritz Schramma, who supports the project said that “For me, it is self-evident that the Muslims need to have a prestigious place of worship, but it bothers me when people have lived here for 35 years and they don’t speak a single word of German.”[7] Christian leaders have taken similarly ambivalent stances: the Catholic Church has long supported the project, though recently Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, has been more cautious: when asked if he was afraid of the mosque, he said, “I don't want to say I'm afraid, but I have an uneasy feeling.”[13] He also stated that Turkey should allow its Christian minorities equivalent rights. He said the mosque would change the skyline of Cologne.[9] Wolfgang Huber, Germany's top Protestant bishop, criticized the “male domination” he saw in Islam and said Muslims should be able to convert to Christianity without fearing reprisals.[9]
Public opinion seems “guardedly supportive, with a majority of residents saying they favor it”.[13] A poll taken by a local newspaper among 500 Cologne residents showed that the project is supported by 63%, of whom 27% want its size to be reduced.[7][17]
A protest planned by Pro Cologne for September 20, 2008 was canceled by police at the last minute in the interest of public safety, after clashes between police and counter-protestors.[18][15]
On August 28, 2008, the city council voted to approve the construction of the mosque. this position was taken by all parties except the Christian democrats (CDU). Outside the hall, a group of 30 protesters demonstrated against the approval, while 100 demonstrated in favor of it.[2]
The Cologne mosque project has been contrasted with a less controversial project in Duisburg, Germany: in Duisburg, there was co-operation and good communication from an early stage between German politicians, church and community leaders and the developers of the mosque.[14][19]
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