Slovenia will inaugurate huge mosque financed by Qatar in Ljubljana
Slovenia is the last of the Yugoslav republics in which an Islamic worship place was built. The Muslim Culture Center, opened in the capital city of Ljubljana, is a whole complex of buildings dedicated to the needs of the 80,000-large Islamic community in the wealthiest republic formed after the collapse of Yugoslavia.
The place is made of a library, restaurants, an education center, a basketball court and a mosque calculated for a simultaneous stay of 1,500 people. The mosque topped with a blue dome, with a 40-meter minaret, is to resemble the huge Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
The Muslim community applied for permission to build an Islamic temple for the first time in the late 1960s, during the communist rule. The building permit was finally issued fidfteen years ago, but some citizens of the Slovenian capital tried to stop the construction of an Islamic temple by proposing a referendum on the matter twice (in 2004 and 2009). However, their applications were rejected by the court.
When the Muslim Cultural Center in Ljubljana was commissioned, the head of the local Islamic community, Mufti Nedžad Grabus, admitted that the construction cost was about 34 million euros, of which as much as 28 million euros were donations from Qatar.
The official opening ceremony is to take place in June 2020.
Source: pch24.pl
Image: alternativeafrica.com
