Germany's biggest and newest mosque: Merkez mosque

It has a 34-metre minaret and a dome-shaped ceiling handpainted with floral patterns and verses from the Qur'an. Its crowning glory is a golden chandelier engraved with 99 epithets for Allah, and there is seating for 2,000 worshippers.

Germany's biggest mosque in the Ruhr valley city of Duisburg in what leaders of Germany's 3 million Muslims have described as a watershed moment, bringing mosques out of the backyards and alleys and into the middle of urban life.

The multimillion-euro Merkez mosque in the working-class district of Marxloh, which was financed by private and public money, will transform the lives of the city's Muslims. Their previous meeting place was the rundown canteen of a former mining company.

People hold on signs 'Made in Marxloh' in front of the newly built Merkez mosque in Duisburg October 26, 2008. Marxloh is a district of Duisburg, where most of Turkish people live. The Merkez mosque is the biggest mosque in Germany.



Pedestrians pass by the Merkez mosque at its official opening ceremony on October 26, 2008 in Duisburg, Germany. Germany's biggest mosque, situated in the industrial area of Duisburg-Marxloh offers room for 1200 believers.


Believers pray in the newly built Merkez mosque in Duisburg October 26, 2008.

A member of the Muslim community prays stand inside Germany's biggest mosque at its official opening ceremony on October 26, 2008 in Duisburg, Germany.


A member of the Muslim community prays inside Germany's biggest mosque at its official opening ceremony on October 26, 2008 in Duisburg, Germany.