A Moscow mosque that has played host to world leaders including Abdel Nasser, Jawaharlal Nehru, Muammar al-Gaddafi and Yasser Arafat is set for a major facelift, thanks to marble donated from Kazakhstan and money from one of Russia's richest men.

Plans to extend the Sobornaya Mosque began in 2004, a century after its foundation. The mosque, which is located on Vypolzov Pereulok, will undergo important extension work over the next decade. Ravil Gaynutdin, head of the Mufti Council of Russia announced the plans to RIA Novosti on June 4. The mosque, situated near the Olympiisky sports complex, is the most renowned of the five Muslim places of worship located in Moscow. "We already have the resources to begin the initial phase of construction," Gaynutdin said. He added that acquiring the necessary licenses and funds for the large-scale works had delayed construction.

"A tender has been made among construction corporations, and a few have already expressed interest," said Damir Gizatullin, first deputy chairman of the Mufti Council of Russia. "Construction work should begin within the next ten days once the winner is selected."

According to a city government decree in May, the first stage of the mosque's construction work should be completed by the end of 2009. The whole area will measure 26,500 square meters, over 16,000 of which will be taken up by a new prayer-room intended to hold 5,000 to 6,000 worshippers. Gizatullin stressed that the current prayer-room, which holds roughly 500 people and is renovated each year, will continue to be used.

The Sobornaya Mosque was built in 1904 with the funds of Muscovite Muslims and continued to operate throughout the official Soviet campaign against religion. After the Mosque on Bolshaya Tatarskaya Ulitsa closed down in 1937, the Sobornaya Mosque became the biggest Muslim center in the whole European part of Russia.

Also included in the renovation project is a plan to build new headquarters for the Spiritual Management of Muslims of European Russia organisation (‘DUMER' in Russian).

The new extension complex is set to cover a total area of 0.81 hectares, most of which the mosque already has had unlimited use of since 1996. The building will include a large dome and two minarets, one of which already exists.

According to Mansur Shakirov, deputy head of investment for the Mufti Council of Russia, Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov signed an agreement to finance 100 million dollars of the construction. He is dubbed ‘Russia's richest civil servant' and ranks 35 on the ‘World's Billionaires 2007' list. "Simple believers, old people from different towns around Russia, have donated a total of 30 million rubles for the building of the mosque," Shakirov said. He added that all the donors' names are to be listed in a special ‘Remembrance Book.'

The project is currently being supervised by leading city architect Alexander Kuzmin. "The colours will depend on the marble and granite given to us by Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan," explained Shakirov, "but green will predominate."

According to Shakirov, Yury Luzhkov plans to attend the opening of the new mosque complex in 2008 and will cut the inauguration ribbon himself.

By Nathalie Cooper