Mukhtarov Mosque

The Mukhtarov Mosque stands on the embankment of the Terek river in Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia–Alania in southern Russia, with the snowy wall of the Caucasus rising behind it on clear days. It was built between 1900 and 1908 with money from Murtuza Mukhtarov, an Azerbaijani oil magnate from Baku, and is named after him. It is often called the Sunni mosque of Vladikavkaz.

The architect was Józef Płoszko, a Polish architect who worked in Baku and designed several buildings for Mukhtarov. He chose a style inspired by the Mamluk mosques of Cairo: the prayer hall is crowned by a dome, two slender minarets rise beside it, and the walls are worked with arches and carved stone ornament. The mosque was consecrated in October 1908.

Vladikavkaz was a city of many faiths, and the mosque served Muslim Ossetians and Ingush as well as Azerbaijanis, Tatars and others. It survived the Soviet years, when many religious buildings in the city were closed or destroyed, and it is again a place of prayer. Its congregation today includes Muslims from across the North Caucasus, and visitors of every faith are welcome to see its interior, with its carpets and arches. Vladikavkaz itself began as a Russian fortress in 1784 on the Georgian Military Road, the route through the mountains to Tbilisi, and grew into a city where Ossetian, Russian, Armenian, Georgian and many other languages were heard in the streets. The mosque is one of the best-known images of Vladikavkaz, and its dome and minarets reflected in the Terek appear on countless photographs of the city.