Construction begins on Grand Barzani Mosque in Erbil

ERBIL, Iraq — Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Friday laid the foundation stone for the Grand Barzani Mosque in Erbil. The region's Endowment and Religious Affairs Minister, Pishtiwan Sadiq, and Erbil Governor Umid Khoshnaw visited the site and reviewed progress with project director Goran Rashid. The mosque's design draws on the form of a traditional Kurdish tent, blending Kurdish motifs with modern architecture. The project is planned as an integrated complex rather than a standalone place of worship, including religious event venues, educational facilities and social spaces. Its minarets will rise 76 meters, matching the age at which Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani died, with four minarets symbolizing the projection of Kurdish history and architecture to the four corners of the world. Covering more than 2 million square meters, the site is being designed and engineered entirely by local Kurdish teams. The development will also feature a large park with more than one million trees and ornamental plants, an artificial lake and the region's largest man-made waterfall.