, also known as , was founded in October, 1935 in Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

 and is Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's first mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

. Its construction was funded by donations collected by the Islamic Committee of Kobe from 1928 until its opening in 1935. The mosque was confiscated by the Imperial Japanese Navy

Imperial Japanese Navy

The Imperial Japanese Navy was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes...

 in 1943. However, it continues to function as mosque today. It is located in the Kitano-cho

Kitano-cho

or is a historical district in Kobe, Japan, which contains a number of foreign residences from the late Meiji and early Taishō eras of Japanese history. While the term can refer to any foreign residence of this period in Japan, it usually refers to those of Kitano given the number and high...

 foreign district of Kobe. Owing to its basement and structure, the mosque was able to endure through the Great Hanshin earthquake

Great Hanshin earthquake

The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on JMA magnitude scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20...

.

The mosque was built in traditional Turkish style by the Czech architect Jan Josef Švagr

Jan Josef Švagr

Jan Josef Švagr is a Czech architect who worked, mainly, in Japan. He moved to Japan in 1923 and worked there, designing many buildings that. Because of the war he left Japan in April 1941 to Latin America where he continued to participate in several projects. The following is a list of his works...

(1885–1969), the architect of a number of Western religious buildings throughout Japan.

External links

• Kobe Mosque Official Website