One of Russia's oldest mosques, in the western oblast of Ryazan, has been handed back to the Muslim faithful.
The spiritual directorate for Russian Muslims said on December 4 that after years of legal debate, it had finally taken over the 15th-century Khan Mosque, as well as the shrines of Shakh Ali Khan and Muhammad Avgan Sultan, in the town of Kasimov, 225 kilometers east of Moscow.
The mosque and the shrines were owned by the Kasimov regional museum until December 3 and had not been used as places of worship.
The Khan Mosque of Kasimov, erected by Tatars in the 15th century, is Russia's second-oldest mosque, after the Dzhuma Mosque in the city of Derbent in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Daghestan, which was built in the 13th century.
The spiritual directorate for Russian Muslims said on December 4 that after years of legal debate, it had finally taken over the 15th-century Khan Mosque, as well as the shrines of Shakh Ali Khan and Muhammad Avgan Sultan, in the town of Kasimov, 225 kilometers east of Moscow.
The mosque and the shrines were owned by the Kasimov regional museum until December 3 and had not been used as places of worship.
The Khan Mosque of Kasimov, erected by Tatars in the 15th century, is Russia's second-oldest mosque, after the Dzhuma Mosque in the city of Derbent in Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Daghestan, which was built in the 13th century.