Akmesdzhyt Friday Mosque

A large new central mosque under construction on the eastern edge of the city, built to a contemporary Ottoman-revival design with a tall central dome and four slim minarets. When complete it will be the largest mosque in Crimea and a long-overdue main place of worship for the surviving Crimean Tatar community.

Even as a building site the mosque is impressive in scale, and the surrounding plaza already gets used for community events. Whether you can enter depends on the current stage of construction; ask at the gate, dress modestly.

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A story
Construction began in 2015 and was meant to celebrate the return of the Crimean Tatar community after the Soviet-era deportations. The project has been repeatedly delayed by political tensions following the 2014 annexation and remains incomplete; the mosque's name uses the older Tatar form of Simferopol, Akmescit, meaning 'white mosque'.