DITIB Central Mosque Essen
The DİTİB Central Mosque ( Turkish : Merkez Camii ) is a mosque under construction in the Altendorf district of Essen . This new representative building of the community, which belongs to the umbrella organization DITIB , is to replace a backyard building that has become too small . Completion was once planned for July 2013. The deadline was not kept, so that the building is still under construction and no further completion date is given. Status: October 2018
building
The architect Oylar Saguner , who is a member of the local DITIB board and was also involved in the planning of the Oberhausen CentrO , has the former warehouse of the former Böhmer shoe store converted into a mosque. The DITIB association in Essen-Altendorf acts as the builder and operator. The construction costs are estimated at around 1.85 million euros. The money comes from the work and savings of the community and from the sale of the old building on Helenenstrasse. The entire property has 110 parking spaces with two entrances. The main entrance to the mosque is on In der Hagenbeck street, while another entrance to the social rooms is on Nöggerathstraße.
The upper floor is spanned by an aluminum dome seven meters high and 31.44 meters in diameter. This makes it larger than the dome of the Cologne mosque with a diameter of around 25 meters and, according to the architect Oylar Saguner, spans what is currently the largest dome of a mosque in Europe. Under the dome with 28 pearl windows there is an 800 square meter prayer room for 360 believers. The pillars of the former flat roof of the old warehouse could therefore be omitted.
There will be three areas in the building. The first, public area includes social rooms, a lecture hall for around 180 people, a sports hall of around 600 square meters, a language institute, a youth, a senior citizen and a women's café. In the second part there is the large prayer room and the third area consists of administration rooms and apartments for imams , caretakers and possible visitors to the community. The topping-out ceremony took place on November 9, 2012.
The old emergency staircase of the former warehouse is being converted into a 23.15 meter high minaret . The spiral staircase is clad in a spiral shape with stainless steel. Letters from different languages of the world - which symbolize the Tower of Babel - are applied to it; as a memorial to understanding . The minaret will only have a symbolic function, muezzin calls are not allowed to penetrate outside. At the western end of the property, however, a five-meter-high soundproof wall will be built to the adjacent residential buildings.
Entrance to the previous central mosque in Helenenstrasse
Former Böhmer shoe warehouse in October 2008, before it was converted into a mosque
Central mosque under construction in April 2011
prehistory
Since the mid-1980s there has been a DITIB community in a former supermarket on Helenenstrasse , which in 2009 had almost 400 members. But since usually only one family member is registered in the community, you have to multiply the number accordingly. In April 2007, the DITIB association in Altendorf bought the 6,300 square meter property north of the Essen-Frohnhausen S-Bahn station in the In der Hagenbeck industrial park for 450,000 euros. The warehouse of the bankrupt shoe company Böhmer, which is being converted into the Merkez Mosque, was located here. The city of Essen granted building permission at the beginning of September 2008. Some conditions had to be taken into account. Therefore, there will be no initially planned grocery store, as no retail trade is permitted at the location that could compete with existing shops in the area. A maximum of 400 people may stay inside the building at the same time, but this upper limit can be exceeded four times a year with up to 700 people. This means the holidays of the Feast of Sacrifice , Ramadan Festival , Merkez Festival and the Open Mosque Day . Furthermore, with 110 parking spaces, the requirements for sufficient parking space have been exceeded.
Advocacy and criticism
As soon as the construction project for a mosque in the district became known, there were opponents and supporters in Altendorf and neighboring districts. In order to dispel concerns about the problem of foreignness, an alliance of parishes, associations and other institutions was formed. The Turkish-Islamic DITIB Association, which initially described the construction project with a large mosque for 2,000 people, was asked to ensure more transparency. The NPD, on the other hand, tried to capitalize on widespread fears of the population with a march on December 8, 2007. This action called for a counter-demonstration and a rally by all parties, which took place on the same day.
There is particular criticism of the location, which should actually be close to the center, but is rather hidden and remote in the Altendorf industrial park. Further fears of residents and neighboring businesses apply to a strong increase in the volume of traffic, which, according to various reports, could hardly occur. Nevertheless, the latter is the reason why an adjoining supplier company stopped investments in its location in September 2008.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung WAZ of December 8, 2009, regional section Essen: some things take longer
- ↑ a b c d Mosque topping-out ceremony has been set ; Retrieved October 26, 2018012
- ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung WAZ of September 3, 2008 - Article: Call to Allah soon in old camp
- ↑ Round table for human rights, against racism and right-wing extremism Essen
- ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung WAZ of September 4, 2008 - Article: Noweda - No further investments for the time being
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 '23 " N , 6 ° 57' 58" E