Winning Design For Mosque In Iceland Unveiled

The winning design for the soon-to-come mosque in Reykjavík has been selected, and the chairperson of the Muslim Society of Iceland is confident that funds can be raised within the organisation to build it.

The design, which you can see below, is the work of architects Gunnlaugur Stefán Baldursson and Pia Bickmann.

(Reykjavík’s new mosque. Click for full size.)

Stefán, an Icelandic architect now living in Germany, wrote of the project on his homepage that the inspiration behind the design was the desire to combine both Islamic and Icelandic elements:

“A Mosque in the northernmost capital of the world needs to have distinctive visual elements and attributes of a Mosque. Simultaneously, it needs to communicate deep ties with the Icelandic environment and culture. [The] main objective of the proposal is to merge these different traditions and architectural perspectives into a modest solution, which can serve the Muslim community and a contemporary call of a dialogue between cultures. The proposal offers exciting solutions for a spacious building for religious ceremonies, educational activities, lectures and other social and cultural events.”

Salmann Tamimi, the chairperson of the Muslim Society of Iceland, is very pleased with the design, and told RÚV he was optimistic that the funds could be raised to make the mosque a reality.

“We have 500 people in the society,” he told reporters. “If 200 of these 500 pay a million each, we’ll be at the halfway mark, and hopefully after two years, everything will be built. I’m very optimistic that our own members can finance this.”

Salmann also made it a point to emphasise that the mosque will not be just for Muslims, but for all Icelanders.

“It took 40 years to build Hallgrímskirkja,” he added. “I hope that we can finish this project within four years.”