Aziziye Mosque
The Aziziye Mosque ( Turkish : Aziziye Camii ) is located in the London district of Stoke Newington and is mainly used by the local Turkish community. The building can accommodate up to 2000 worshipers. The building also houses a butcher producing halāl , the Aziziye Education Center (weekend schools), a wedding hall and a restaurant.
history
The building was originally constructed as a cinema and opened as the Apollo Picture House in 1913 . In 1933 it was modernized and reopened as Ambassador Cinema and acquired in 1937 by the entrepreneur Oskar Deutsch , founder of the British Odeon cinema chain. The Ambassador closed on December 7, 1963 and reopened as the Star Bingo Club in 1965 after being acquired by the Star Cinema chain. After it was reopened as Astra Cinema in 1974, its function as a movie theater ended in July 1983 and was finally converted into a mosque for the local Turkish-Muslim community. The renovation work was financed by the UK Turkish Islamic Association . In 1994 the auditorium was gutted and all cinema elements removed. The outer walls were decorated with mosaics; the two domes at the entrance area have always adorned the building and were not only added during the renovation work.
Turks, who initially felt reluctant to visit a “non-Turkish” mosque, welcomed the nature of the services, which are now held in Turkish rather than English or Arabic.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Azizia Mosque UK Mosque Searcher
- ↑ Astra Cinema cinematreasures.org
Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 19.1 ″ N , 0 ° 4 ′ 30 ″ W.