Tver Mosque was built in 1905 under supervision of local imam (Muslim spiritual leader) Sayyid Burhan Hussain. It was designed for a small Muslim community of Tver that numbered about 300 people at the time. The opening ceremony of the mosque was held on October 27 which coincided with the holy month of Ramadan. Government officials presented contractually telegram from Russian Emperor Nicholas II along with a hefty sum as a donation for the Muslim community of Tver. After atheists came to power Tver Mosque along with other religious buildings in the city was closed. It was used for various purposes including warehouse, restaurant and etc. Only after break up of Soviet Union Muslim community got their house of prayer back. It underwent restoration to its original appearance.
History
Construction
The decision to build a
mosque in Tver was made by local Muslims in 1905. The Tver imam
Khusain Seyid-Burkhan (1876-1933) collected information about the
number of Muslims in the regiments stationed in the city (8th
Grenadier and 1st Dragoon); there were 73 of them. According to the
associations of the Tver and Rozhdestvenskaya manufactories of the
Konyaev brothers and the administration of the Ivan Zalogin's plant,
up to 150 Muslims worked in these groups. In general, about 300
people were in need of building a mosque in Tver. FI Alyshev was
involved in the collection of documents for obtaining a building
permit; he also assumed responsibility to the government of the
province for the construction of the building as a trustee of the
mus. communities of the city.
On April 17, 1906, the
provincial government received a petition from F. I. Alyshev,
containing a request to approve the project and permit the
construction of a mosque; a document was attached to it, on the
basis of which, on August 12, 1905, the city government allocated
for the construction of the Tver Cathedral Mosque a plot of land
opposite the Zemskaya Hospital at the end of Millionnaya Street with
an area of 150 sq. fathoms (about 315 m²). After confirmation of
the agreement on the construction of the mosque by various branches
of government, the documents were received by the construction
department of the provincial government and were considered on July
11, 1906. By that time, the construction was already launched: from
the end of April 1906, the construction of stone walls began, and on
October 3 of the same year, the construction was completely
completed.
The entire Muslim community raised funds for the
construction of the Tver Cathedral Mosque (about 2,500 rubles were
collected by subscription in Tver and other cities), but F.I.Alyshev
covered the bulk of the costs. In general, the construction cost 15
thousand rubles, the equipment of the building - 2 thousand.
Opening
The grand opening of the Tver Cathedral Mosque took place
on October 27, 1906, in the month of Ramadan; it was preceded by a
solemn divine service, which was conducted by the St. Petersburg
akhun A. Bayazitov, the Moscow one by H. Ageev and the Tver imam H.
Seid-Burkhan. The opening of the mosque was attended by the Tver
governor, the mayor, the head of the Tver garrison, guests from
Petersburg: the general from the cavalry, Prince Chingiz Khan, the
editor-publisher of a number of Petersburg Muslim newspapers G.-R.
Ibragimov and other high-ranking officials. A telegram was read out
on behalf of Emperor Nicholas II, in which "in connection with the
official opening of the mosque, His Majesty ... orders to donate two
thousand rubles for the complete completion of the construction."
After the Governor's speech at the Public Meeting, F. I. Alyshev
gave a gala dinner on the occasion of the opening of the Tver
Cathedral Mosque, during which the speakers stressed the need for
further development of "spiritual friendship" between Muslims and
Orthodox Christians living in Tver.
After closing
The Tver
Cathedral Mosque was officially closed in July 1935. In Soviet
times, the building housed various institutions, in particular for a
long time there was a restaurant "Vostok". But the Muslim community
of the Tver region continued to exist, headed by unofficial mullahs.
Post soviet time
Ismail Fayzrakhmanov became the official
imam of the Tver Cathedral Mosque in 1992, when the building of the
mosque was returned to the Muslim community. In 1998-2003, Fanis
Bilyalov, a native of Nizhny Novgorod, was the imam-khatib of the
Tver Cathedral Mosque, who graduated from the Moscow Higher Islamic
Spiritual College. Since 2003, R.M. Musin has been the imam-khatib.
On October 27, 2006, members of the Muslim community and the
public of Tver widely celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Tver
Cathedral Mosque. Many guests arrived at the holiday, including the
chairman of the Council of Ministers Ravil Gainutdin, the chairman
of the DUMNO Umar Idrisov, prominent representatives of the Muslim
communities of Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Ivanov, Vologda, etc. a
solemn meeting dedicated to this significant event, during which the
Muslims of the region were warmly greeted and congratulated by
Governor Dmitry Zelenin.
The renovation of the building of
the Tver Cathedral Mosque was launched only in 2008. More than 4
million rubles were allocated for the restoration from the federal
budget, which made it possible to repair the premises, put the
entire territory of the Islamic complex in order, strengthen the
foundation of the cathedral mosque and renew the gilding of its
crescents and spiers.
Architecture
The building of the Tver Cathedral
Mosque was made according to the model project of 1844 in the New
Auritanian style. Architect - B.G. Polyak. Building length - 12 m;
its length is emphasized by the division of 6 window openings with
horseshoe arches. A visual reduction in the mass of the building is
served by star-shaped 8-pointed windows, as well as a cornice with
elements of local architecture. At the corners of the roof there are
small domes connected by a scalloped ridge stretched along the
entire perimeter. In the northern part, in the corner above the
entrance, there is a minaret - a cylindrical tower 16.3 m high with
a dome; the minaret has a spire of the building up to 4.5 m high.
The roof of the northern volume is decorated with a brick pattern in
the oriental style. Around the windows there was a stucco molding,
which was almost completely lost over time and today is subject to
restoration. Rustovka - the alternation of horizontal stripes in two
colors: white and red - gives the mosque a special expressiveness
and in style makes the building of the Tver Cathedral Mosque related
to the mosques of Vladikavkaz and Potsdam. The prayer hall has
spacious choirs and galleries on the 2nd floor, where a flight
staircase leads. In 1913, a stone fence with metal lancet sections
connected by stone pillars appeared around the Tver Cathedral
Mosque.