Cologne - The Hodja carries a new design. Ground color white, embroidered in gold. "Our new office clothes. It was designed in Turkey, "says Mehmet Celebi (40) and pulls the cloak. If all goes well and the money does not go out, then the preaching of Ankara for four years now Imam also sent a brand new pulpit.
Everything speaks of the project in Ehrenfeld, but is actually built in Porz Bahnhofstrasse 65, just 50 meters away from the tracks, opposite the landmark Australia-settlement. Two floors of the new Mevlana mosque already available.
The Himmelsstürmer. As the Ditib for the Cologne Central Mosque at Venloerstraße also have the Porzer dispute over the mosque Bauer Minaretthöhe. 25 meters, the mosque community wants, just 15 meters allows the Council Porzer "Too little," says project leader Atalay Hasbi (58). Thus, a minaret of the mosque butt would mess up proportions, so will now begin to do so. A solution is in sight: "The authorization for this they will not get," says District Mayor Horst Krämer (SPD), otherwise a supporter of the construction.
The history of the Mevlana mosque starts 1988th This year, the Turkish community bought the land, an old farmhouse. Even then, Hasbi Atalay, who came in 1974 from Turkey to Germany to study architecture, active in the Islamic community of Porz
The building was reconstructed to some - at some point it was simply too small. Well it never was. Atalay calculates: "The community has grown in recent years to 380 members, and the building where we sit is in a dilapidated condition."
As a man of professional Hasbi Atalay took over the planning for the new mosque being built next to the old one. On 300 square meters will be prayer rooms, a cafeteria, a grocery store, and sports and built classrooms.
Work began on the 15th December 2007. The cost (approximately 1.5 million euros) will be borne by the association. To this end, the Board encourages members to donate on a regular basis.
And what the neighbors say the building? "Of course there were many concerns," Hasbi said Atalay. At least, any traffic problems are to be prevented by 27 additional parking spaces in the courtyard of the mosque. "So quite some but not yet convinced," said Bauer of the mosque Porz
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