Red Mosque, Mosque in Tomsk, Russia.
The Red Mosque is a three-story red brick building on Tatarskaya Street in Tomsk that houses a madrasah and prayer hall. The structure displays regional architecture combined with Islamic design elements.
During the Soviet period, authorities converted the mosque into a vodka production facility before it was later returned to religious use. This transformation reflects the shifting phases of religious freedom in Russia.
The mosque functions as a community hub for Muslims in Tomsk and is actively used by the local Tatar population. It reflects the long-standing presence of Islam in this Siberian city.
The mosque stands at Tatarskaya Street 24, at the corner with Trifonova Street, in the Tatar quarter. The prayer hall now occupies the second floor of the former madrasah next door, returned to the community in 1995–1997, while the mosque building itself was handed back only in 2002. Visitors should dress modestly and remove shoes before entering.
The mosque was closed in 1931 and its building served as a cinema hall, a liquor distillery and a workshop of the Tomsky food plant before believers got it back in 2002, already half-ruined. Restoration funded by donors from the Chechen Republic rebuilt the lost minaret and dome and was completed in December 2014; the reopening ceremony followed in March 2015.
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