Hohhot Great Mosque

The Hohhot Great Mosque is the earliest and largest mosque in Hohhot, the capital city Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Great Mosque was built in 1693 and renovated in 1789 and 1923. It now covers an area of 4000 square meters.

The mosque is a mix of Chinese and Arabic architecture. Chinese mosques during the Qing Dynasty had minarets that were a compromise between a pure Islamic minaret and a Chinese pagoda, i.e., they were minarets that were crowned with a pavilion-type roof. Moreover, Chinese mosques of that period had steles, or plaques, which reminded Muslim worshippers of their inescapable loyalty to the emperor.

The Great Mosque of Hohhot has only a single minaret, which, incidentally, was not part of the original design, but was added on later.

Of the buildings here, all constructed in black brick, the grandest is the aptly named Grand Prayer Hall, behind which lies both the Teaching Hall and the Muslim Baths. All of the buildings within have Muslim characters. And it’s noteworthy are the over 30 volumes of ancient Koran scriptures, all written in Arabic. It is also possible, with permission, to climb the 15 meter-tall hexagonal minaret, which is topped with a pagoda style roof, for a nice view of the city.