The tiered roof
Curved corners.
Nikolai Bulykin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Zossolino — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Malcolm Manners from Lakeland FL, USA — CC BY 2.0 · Petar Milošević — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Malcolm Manners from Lakeland FL, USA — CC BY 2.0 · Nikolai Bulykin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Nikolai Bulykin — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bruno Rijsman — CC BY 2.0
A unique wooden mosque built by the Dungans, Chinese Muslims who migrated from China to Karakol in the 19th century. In 1907 they invited an architect from Beijing, Zhou Si, with a team of twenty builders; the work took about three years and was finished in 1910. The mosque looks like a Chinese temple, with a tiered roof curving up at the corners, red and orange wooden columns and carvings painted blue and green, Beside it rises a blue wooden tower for the call to prayer in place of a traditional minaret. It is 27 m long and 15 m wide, resting on wooden columns on stone bases that carry the carved lower frame and the roof, its beams seated in special slots in the joiner's interlocking manner. It was closed in Soviet times and became a working mosque again after independence in 1991. Entry is usually free. It is a working mosque, so dress modestly, women cover their hair, and prayer times are best avoided. The wooden Holy Trinity Church is a short walk away.
Curved corners.
In blue wood.
On the columns.
Central Karakol
The Dungans, Chinese Muslims, built it in 1907-1910 under a Beijing architect in Chinese style, with wooden columns and a tiered roof.
