Nord Kamal Mosque, Mosque in Norilsk, Russia

Nord Kamal Mosque is a two-storey building in Norilsk with pale blue-green walls, a cream central dome and a 30-metre square minaret, built square rather than round to hold heat and resist wind. The prayer hall is round and the plan forms a star; the lower floor serves as a madrasa. Like other Norilsk buildings it stands on stilts above the permafrost.

Tatar businessman Mitkhad Bikmeev began construction in 1993 and financed it; the mosque opened on 19 September 1998, with Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin opening the prayer hall. Bikmeev named it after his parents Nuritdin and Gainikamal and paid for its restoration in 2007.

The name joins the first syllables of Nuritdin and Gainikamal, the parents of builder Midekhat Bikmeev, a Tatar businessman. The prayer hall was opened on 19 September 1998 by Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin. Norilsk's Muslim community, about 50,000 people, is mostly made up of migrants from Azerbaijan and Dagestan, a number that has shrunk since 2002, when travel restrictions were placed on foreigners.

The mosque stands on stilts, like the rest of Norilsk, because permafrost begins close to the surface and reaches 300 to 500 metres deep. The square minaret, 30 metres tall, is built to shed wind and resist freezing. The prayer hall is on the upper floor and the madrasa below.

The building sits above the Arctic Circle at approximately 69 degrees north latitude. This makes it a place of worship in one of the world's coldest inhabited regions, far from any major Muslim population center.