Huaisheng Mosque

Common card · No. 340148

The Huaisheng Mosque (simplified Chinese: 广州怀圣寺; traditional Chinese: 廣州懷聖寺; also known as the Lighthouse Mosque and the Great Mosque of Canton) is the main mosque of Guangzhou, located in the Yuexiu District, in the Guangdong Province of China. Rebuilt many times over its history, some historical texts claim that it was first built in the 7th century, but modern scholarship places its foundation at a later period during the Tang or Song dynasties. The most unusual feature of the mosque is its pointed 36-metre-high (118 ft) minaret, the Guangta or Kwangtah. Although this meant the "Plain Pagoda" in reference to its unadorned surface, it is also sometimes taken to mean "lighthouse" and gave the mosque its alternate name. Somewhat similar "minimalist" minarets can be seen outside China, e.g. at the Khan's Mosque in Kasimov, Russia. The mosque was listed as a Chinese major cultural heritage site. This mosque and the Xianxian mosque are both attributed to the Muslim companion (Sahabi) Sa'd...

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