Great Mosque Muslim Quarter, Xi'an, China

Xi'an's Great Mosque, serving a resident Hui (ethnic Han Muslim) community, is the largest Chinese-style mosque in China, located on a rectangular plot of land that is 245m long by 47m wide (800 ft by 155 ft). An earlier mosque was built here in 742, to serve the Muslim traders and diplomats who traveled to Chang'an, as the city of Xi'an was then known, along the Silk Road. The present complex was designed in the Ming era (1392), but many of its buildings belong architecturally to the Qing dynasty. They were rebuilt, and their timbers replaced, in 1990.

The long axis of the temple complex is oriented east to west. The prayer hall is located at the west end of the complex, and approached via a series of four courtyards that begin at the east end (entrance) of the complex. Its mihrab (prayer niche) on the back wall thus faces west, towards Mecca, the required direction of prayer. Seen here is a Ming-era (rebuilt) three-bay gate, that leads east into the third courtyard of the complex.