RIJEKA, CROATIA / The Islamic Center and the Mosque officially opened in Rijeka on May 4, 2013. This is the first Mosque in this city, and the third in Croatia.
The Mosque is the result of decades-old aspirations of Muslims in Rijeka to have an adequate religious space. Now they have, and what a space it is; one of the most beautiful religious buildings in Europe. The most interesting fact is that the design was not defined by architects, but by one of the most prominent Croatian sculptor, Dušan Džamonja (b. 1928 – d. 2009). He created a miniature model of the mosque, reflecting his well-known abstract sculptures. Later, the architects Darko Vlahović and Branko Vučinović have undertaken the task to implement this conceptual idea in order to achieve the superior aesthetics of the project.
The Mosque’s dome is shaped in five separate parts that visually constitute a single object. When creating the design of the dome, Dušan Džamonja probably had in mind the rich tradition of dome construction of Ottoman mosques on the shores of the Mediterranean. With his sculptural approach he gave ‘the new meaning to the old theme.’
The successful ‘playing’ with basic geometric shapes led to the fact that the building is considered more as a functional sculpture, intended for culture and religion, rather than the usual architectural building. And this is what makes the Mosque in Rijeka artistically valuable and unique.
The associate architects on the project were: Dora Vlahović, Luka Vlahović, Dubravka Đurkan-Horvat and Davor Mauser. The construction of the Mosque was mainly sponsored by the state of Qatar.