Kashgar Id Kah Mosque

Built in 1442, Kashgar Id Kah Mosque is the most ancient mosque in Xinjiang. Id Kah is of Persian origin, meaning place of festivities. Covering an area of 16,800 square meters (about 4 acres), Id Kah Mosque is the largest mosque in Xinjiang and also in China. Every Friday, it houses nearly 10,000 prayers and may accommodate up to 20,000. On other days of the week, around 2,000 Muslims come to the mosque to pray.

The site of Id Kah Mosque was once used as a cemetery. In 1442, Saqsiz Mirza, ruler of Kashgar, built a prayer hall there to commemorate his ancestors. Ubul Adibek expanded it into a center of worship in 1538 in memory of his uncle Mirza Wali. The mosque’s modern golden-brick structure was built in 1798, and was further expanded in 1838 to its current size.

Id Kah Mosque incorporates architectural features observed in Central Asian, West Asian and Chinese architecture. Id Kah Mosque is centered around the prayer hall and has a courtyard on both sides of it. The mosque consists of the courtyard, the Prayer Hall, the gate tower, as well as some other attached structures.

The entry gate is made of yellow bricks, the gate is 4.7 meters high, 4.3 meters wide, and the gate building is about 17 meters high. Two 18-meter-high minarets are built asymmetrically on both sides of the gate tower, and a crescent moon stands on the top of the tower. Behind the gate tower is a large arch. The entry arch was built with sand-colored bricks to echo the environment. Decorated with relieves, mosaics and colorful arabesques, the structure is known as a “paragon of Islamic buildings in China.”

Inside the gate, there is a big courtyard. In it, the poplar trees reach the sky and the pines grow vigorously. The entire yard is heavily shaded. A pond with limpid water is a bright mirror enclosed by the green trees. It endows the Id Kah Mosque with a quiet elegance.

The Prayer Hall is on a high dais in the west end of the mosque. It contains three parts: Hall Entrance, the Outer hall, and the Inner hall, all sitting on a dais over one meter high above the ground. The roof of the Outer Hall is supported by 140 blue color painted wooden pillars. These pillars are seven-meter high and were laid out on a grid pattern, artistically spaced. Exquisite carvings and beautiful pictures are adorned on the roof.

Id Kah Mosque faces east by the city’s Central Square on North Jiefang Road. Outside Id Kah Mosque is the Id Kah square where Uyghur people congregate during festivals such as Eid ul-Fitr and Qurban.