Dongsi Mosque

About

The Dongsi Mosque (东四清真寺, Dōngsì Qīngzhēnsì) stands in the Dongsi subdistrict of Beijing's Dongcheng District, in the heart of the old city. Local tradition holds that an earlier mosque was raised on the site as far back as the Liao dynasty, when Beijing served as a secondary capital of the Liao state; more reliable historical records place its founding in 1346, during the Yuan dynasty.

The mosque was expanded and renovated under the Ming, first in 1447 and again in 1486, with the earlier of those works financed by the Ming dynasty officer Chen Yuyuan. It survived a fire in the late nineteenth century, though not without damage, and has been carefully repaired across the twentieth century.

In its present form the mosque carries the marks of Ming-era architecture. The mosque complex comprises two īwāns, a minaret, the main prayer hall, and a library; Qur'ānic calligraphy is carved along the arches of the prayer hall, which accommodates around 500 worshippers. Five wing halls line the southern side of the sahn (courtyard), with three more on the northern side, and the southern part of the courtyard houses a library containing various editions of the Qur'ān.