Gallery
Description
Property Name: Id Kah Mosque
Inventory No: –
Date of infill of the inventory form: –
Country (State party): China
Province: Kashgar
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 39.472242, 75.984751
Historic Period: 1440s
Year of Construction: 1440s/843-853 AH, expanded 19th c./13th c. AH
Style: Ming
Original Use:
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Unknown
Significance
Located in the heart of Kashi, on the west side of the city’s main square, the Aitika Mosque is the largest mosque south of the Tianshan Mountains. The complex covers 16,800 square meters, 120 meters long from east to west and 140 meters wide from north to south. The Aitika or Id Kah Meschit, which means “Festival Square Mosque” in Uyghur is said to be able to hold between 6,000 and 10,000 worshippers at a time. Although the mosque was probably first built in the 1440’s when Islam was introduced to Kashi under the Ming Dynasty, the layout and most of the built fabric date to the nineteenth century.
Selection Criteria
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
Although the mosque was first built in 1415, it has gone under many renovations resulting with many changes in details. It has been listed as one of the culture protection unit in Chongwen District in 1984.
References
Chang, Jing Qi. “Islamic Architecture in China.” In The Changing Rural Habitat. Volume II: Background Papers, edited by Brian Brace Taylor, 74. Singapore: Concept Media, for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, 1982.
Loubes, Jean-Paul. Architecture et Urbanisme de Turfan: Une Oasis du Turkestan Chinois, 159-160. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1998.
O’Kane, Bernard. “Iran and Central Asia.” In The mosque: history, architectural development & regional diversity, edited by Martin Frishman and Hasan-Uddin Khan, 126-128. London : Thames and Hudson, 1994.
Qiu, Yulan. Ancient Chinese Architecture: Islamic Buildings, edited by Sun Dazhang, 131, 146. Vienna: Springer-Verlag, 2003.