Id Kah Mosque

Id Kah Mosque in the historic centre of Kashgar in Xinjiang, China, is the largest mosque in China and historically the most important religious building of the Uyghur Muslim community. The original mosque on this site was established in 1442 by Saqsiz Mirza, the local ruler, and was substantially expanded under the Yarkand Khanate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to its present form. The main prayer hall and the surrounding tree-shaded courtyard together can accommodate as many as twenty thousand worshippers during Eid prayers and Friday Jumu'ah, making it the largest gathering space for Muslims in the country. The building's yellow-tiled facade with its large central archway flanked by two minarets faces directly onto the historic Id Kah Square — for centuries the gathering point of Old Kashgar at the western terminus of the Silk Road in China. The interior wooden columns supporting the carved-and-painted ceiling represent traditional Central Asian Islamic architectural craftsmanship that connects Kashgar visually to the great mosques of Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva. The religious situation in Xinjiang has changed significantly in recent years and visitor access varies; travellers should research current local conditions carefully before attempting to visit.