Seoul Central Mosque stands in Hannam-dong, in Seoul's Itaewon district, and opened in 1976. The Korea Muslim Federation, originally the Korean Muslim Society, owns it. President Park Chung Hee offered the land as goodwill toward Middle Eastern allies, and Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern governments paid for construction, with most of the money from Saudi Arabia. The article names no architect.
Its design is characteristically Islamic, with large minarets and engraved Arabic calligraphy near the entrance, in contrast to the surrounding Korean architecture. King Hassan II of Morocco donated the wooden mimbar. The article gives no dimensions.
Before it opened, congregants used a makeshift downtown prayer hall for about a decade. It is the only mosque in the Seoul Capital Area, with lectures in English, Arabic and Korean. Friday prayers usually draw 400 to 500 people, and sometimes up to 800.
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