Great Mosque of Kano

The Great Mosque of Kano is the central mosque in Kano, the second largest Nigerian city.

The mosque is located in the eastern city of Kano, next to the palace of the Emir of the Kofar Mata Road. It is one of the largest mosques in Nigeria and draws for Friday prayers at up to 50,000 worshipers, many of whom have no place inside the mosque and pray to the surrounding terrain. In addition to the great mosque there are six other mosques in Kano.

The first large mosque was, according to the Kano Chronicle in the 15th century Muhammad Rumfa built on the site of a sacred tree. It is also possible that once occupied a smaller mosque from the 14th century there. The mosque was displaced in 1582 by Muhammad Zaki to a different location and re- built due to their dilapidated condition 1855-1883 by Abdullahi dan Dabo. After it was torn down in the 1950s, promoted the British colonial administration in 1963 the construction of the present mosque. This has a green main dome and two minarets, but is not regarded as architecturally outstanding.