In the leafy university neighborhood of Da'an District in central Taipei City, broad Xinsheng South Road (新生南路) bordering lush Da'an Forest Park has long been affectionately nicknamed Taipei's Road to Heaven. Along barely a single kilometer of this palm- and camphor-lined boulevard, pedestrians pass Buddhist meditation halls, Wesley Methodist Church, Catholic Holy Family Church, and, rising gracefully above royal palms in pale washed stone and verdigris copper, the central dome and twin crescent-topped minarets of Taipei Grand Mosque (臺北清真寺).
Formally inaugurated on 13 April 1960 to designs by renowned Taiwanese architect Yang Cho-cheng and protected as a Taipei Municipal Monument since June 1999, Taipei Grand Mosque stands as the premier spiritual home of Islam in Taiwan. For more than six decades beneath its serene, image-free dome upholding pure monotheism, descendants of Chinese-speaking Hui Muslims have stood shoulder to shoulder in Friday prayer alongside hundreds of thousands of fellow believers from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Vietnam's Cham Muslim community.
IPure Tawhid Monotheism, Hui Muslim Heritage and Taiwan's Multinational Ummah
Known in classical Chinese Islamic usage as a Qingzhensi (清真寺, literally Temple of Purity and Truth), Taipei Grand Mosque embodies the foundational Sunni creed of Tawhid: the absolute oneness and transcendence of Allah without partner, image or intermediary. Consequently, visitors stepping inside its prayer hall encounter neither statues, portraits, candles nor incense censers. Instead, sacred dignity arises through uncluttered space, natural daylight streaming down from high clerestory windows, calligraphic medallions from the Holy Qur'an, and the arched Mihrab niche orienting every worshipper's prostration toward the Kaaba in Mecca.
Muslim presence on Taiwan unfolded across two distinct historical waves. Beginning in the seventeenth century under Koxinga and the early Qing dynasty, seafaring Hui Muslim clans from Quanzhou in Fujian (such as the Ding families of Lukang and Guo families of Baiqi) settled along Taiwan's western coast. A second formative wave arrived between 1948 and 1949, when roughly twenty thousand Chinese Hui Muslims from Ningxia, Gansu, Yunnan, Henan, Shandong and Nanjing relocated to Taiwan alongside distinguished Muslim commander General Bai Chongxi (白崇禧, 1893 to 1966, native of Guilin and founding President of the Chinese Muslim Association).
Since the 1990s, the congregation gathering at Taipei Grand Mosque has blossomed from a primarily Mandarin-speaking Hui parish into a remarkably cosmopolitan international Ummah. Alongside some fifty to sixty thousand Taiwanese Muslims, Taiwan now hosts nearly three hundred thousand Muslim workers, professionals, university scholars and spouses from Indonesia (the island's largest overseas workforce in eldercare and fisheries), Malaysia, Brunei, Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and West Africa.
Every Friday around midday for congregational Jumu'ah prayer, well over a thousand worshippers remove their shoes, perform ritual washing with running water in the Wudu ablution rooms, and fill both the main carpeted hall and outer colonnaded verandas. Mounting the carved wooden Minbar pulpit, the Imam delivers the Friday Khutbah sermon in Arabic, Mandarin and English emphasizing honesty, compassion for the vulnerable, filial kindness and charitable Zakat, before ranks of factory workers, diplomats, professors and students bow foreheads simultaneously to the carpet in complete human equality.
Built expressly to serve both spiritual worship and postwar international friendship, Taipei Grand Mosque quickly became a centerpiece of Taiwan's cultural diplomacy with the Islamic world. Following the May 1958 Taipei state visit of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran (which catalyzed plans for a larger mosque), the completed sanctuary welcomed King Hussein of Jordan, prime ministers and religious scholars from Southeast Asia, and, most memorably in May 1971, King Faisal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, who knelt in prayer inside the Xinsheng South Road hall.
Travelers in central Taipei should note that two historic mosques stand roughly two kilometers apart in Da'an and Zhongzheng districts and are occasionally confused: Taipei Grand Mosque (臺北清真寺, inaugurated 1960) is the monumental domed landmark at No. 62, Sec. 2, Xinsheng South Road opposite Da'an Forest Park, whereas Taipei Cultural Mosque (臺北文化清真寺, founded 1950 and rebuilt as a five-story modern building in 1983) stands south on Xinhai Road near Taipower Building MRT Station. Both warmly welcome Muslims for daily prayers and respectful visitors learning about Islam.
IIFrom a 1948 Lishui Street Wooden House to Yang Cho-cheng's 1960 Dome and the 1999 Heritage Rescue
Both the construction of Taipei Grand Mosque in 1960 and its dramatic civic preservation in 1999 mark milestone chapters in modern Taipei's architectural and interfaith history.
- 1948General Bai Chongxi and Imam Chang Zixuan open Taipei's first mosque on Lishui StreetTo serve newly arrived Chinese Hui Muslim families in Taipei, the Chinese Muslim Association adapted a Japanese-era timber residence in Lane 17, Lishui Street (Da'an District) into a modest congregation hall.
- 1958Initiative for an international Grand Mosque on Xinsheng South RoadRecognizing after the Shah of Iran's May 1958 visit that Taipei needed a dignified central mosque, General Bai Chongxi and Foreign Minister George K.C. Yeh acquired a 2,747-square-meter parcel on Xinsheng South Road with community and allied Muslim support, commissioning architect Yang Cho-cheng.
- 13 April 1960Grand inauguration of Taipei Grand MosqueConstructed by Continental Engineering Corporation in just over a year, Taipei Grand Mosque opened on 13 April 1960 in the presence of foreign envoys and Islamic leaders from across Asia and the Middle East.
- May 1971State visit and congregational prayer of King Faisal of Saudi ArabiaKing Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud personally visited and prayed inside Taipei Grand Mosque during his May 1971 state visit, cementing enduring educational and religious ties with the Muslim world.
- 29 June 1999Civic campaign averts demolition and secures Taipei Municipal Monument statusWhen a long-dormant land-title dispute threatened the mosque with commercial redevelopment in the late 1990s, scholars, Taipei City officials, diplomats and civic donors rallied to resolve the land claim and designated Taipei Grand Mosque a Municipal Monument on 29 June 1999.
Architectural historians marvel at how Yang Cho-cheng (楊卓成, 1914 to 2006, later famed for designing Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, National Theater and Concert Hall, and the Grand Hotel) conceived Taipei Grand Mosque in 1958 without ever having traveled to the Middle East: studying hundreds of architectural photographs of Ottoman, Syrian and North African mosques supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yang engineered a thin-shell reinforced-concrete dome spanning fifteen meters cleanly without a single interior column.
IIIThe Fifteen-Meter Pillarless Copper Dome, Twin Twenty-Meter Minarets and Byzantine Arcades
Departing from the pagoda-roofed Chinese mosques of the Ming and Qing mainland, Yang Cho-cheng crafted an authentic Middle Eastern Islamic silhouette fused with Mediterranean Roman-Byzantine arcades and tactile 1960s Taiwanese washed-stone craftsmanship.
Crowning the sanctuary is a hemispherical copper-sheathed dome rising 15 meters high and spanning 15 meters across (flanked by two secondary domes), creating an unobstructed acoustic prayer hall accommodating up to a thousand worshippers.
Rising symmetrically at the north and south corners of the front block, twin cylindrical minarets reach 20 meters into the sky with upper muezzin balconies and bronze crescent finials.
Framing the Xinsheng South Road entrance and side courtyards are graceful twin-columned semicircular arches finished in muted gray washed-pebble aggregate (xishizi) and geometric lattice windows that temper Taipei's subtropical sun and rain.
Lined in soft Persian-patterned prayer carpets (with the main floor for men and an airy upper mezzanine gallery for women), the prayer hall focuses quietly upon the West-Northwest Mihrab niche and geometric-carved timber Minbar pulpit.
Flanking wings house tiled Wudu running-water washing rooms, offices of the Chinese Muslim Association, a multilingual Islamic library, and a palm-lined courtyard welcoming Friday community gatherings.
| Architectural component | Dimensions and style | Location in complex | Liturgical function and heritage value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Copper-Clad Dome | 15 m height, 15 m diameter, thin-shell concrete | Directly above main Musalla prayer hall | Column-free span providing natural resonance for Qur'anic recitation |
| Twin Minarets | 20 m height, cylindrical shafts with crescents | North and south flanks of eastern facade | Iconic vertical markers symbolizing the five daily Adhan calls to prayer |
| Byzantine Colonnaded Arcades | Semicircular arches in 1960s washed gravel | Xinsheng South Road frontage and side courts | Sheltered transition gallery and overflow prayer space on Fridays and Eid |
| Mihrab Niche and Timber Minbar | Oriented ~286 degrees West-Northwest to Mecca | Qibla wall of main prayer hall | Marks exact Mecca prayer bearing and pulpit for Friday Khutbah sermons |
| Women's Gallery and Wudu Rooms | Second-level mezzanine and tiled washing bays | Upper prayer hall and auxiliary wing | Provides dignified prayer sightlines and running water for ritual purity |
IVSite Context: Astronomical Qibla Alignment Toward Mecca Facing Da'an Forest Park
Because orthodox Islamic jurisprudence eschews geomantic divination, Taipei Grand Mosque's spatial design rests upon two clear principles: strict spherical-trigonometric Qibla alignment toward Mecca indoors and harmonious urban ecology along Taipei's greenest cultural boulevard.
Standing at 25.02790 degrees north latitude and 121.53395 degrees east longitude on the western side of Xinsheng South Road in Da'an District, architect Yang Cho-cheng gracefully reconciled Taipei's street grid with global Islamic liturgy. Because Xinsheng South Road (新生南路, laid out over a historic branch of the Liugongjun canal) runs north-south, the mosque's colonnaded entrance arcade faces East directly across the boulevard into the 26-hectare canopy of Da'an Forest Park (大安森林公園), Taipei's premier urban woodland. Receiving gentle morning sunlight and cool oxygen-rich breezes off the park's ponds and banyan groves, the forecourt enjoys remarkable calm in the center of the capital.
Once worshippers step inside the Musalla prayer hall, interior geometry shifts subtly to honor the exact Qibla great-circle bearing from Taipei to the Holy Kaaba in Mecca (roughly 8,225 kilometers away along the great circle at an azimuth of approximately 286.6 degrees West-Northwest). Accordingly, the Mihrab niche and prayer-carpet rows face West-Northwest toward the quiet scholarly lanes of Qingtian Street and National Taiwan Normal University behind the mosque, effortlessly uniting civic openness toward Taipei's interfaith boulevard outside with unwavering spiritual focus toward Mecca within.
VRamadan Communal Iftars, Eid Festivals and Taiwan's Cham Vietnamese Muslim Community
All sacred seasons at Taipei Grand Mosque follow the Islamic Hijri Lunar Calendar (a pure twelve-lunar-month cycle of 354 or 355 days that shifts roughly eleven days earlier each Gregorian year) alongside the five daily Salat prayers.
| Time in Hijri cycle | Calendar observed | Congregational prayer or feast | Community life at Taipei Grand Mosque |
|---|---|---|---|
| Every Friday at midday | Weekly | Friday Congregational Prayer (Salat al-Jumu'ah) and Halal Courtyard Market | Over a thousand multinational believers gather for trilingual Khutbah sermons and united prayer, accompanied by stalls offering authentic Halal lunches. |
| Entire 9th Hijri month (Ramadan) | Islamic Hijri Lunar | Sacred Month of Fasting, Free Sunset Iftar Meals and Nightly Tarawih Prayers | Each evening at sunset throughout Ramadan, volunteers serve dates, warm soup and hundreds of free Halal boxed dinners to workers, students and travelers before Tarawih recitation. |
| 1st day of 10th Hijri month (1 Shawwal) | Islamic Hijri Lunar | Festival of Breaking the Fast (Eid al-Fitr) | Thousands dressed in festive attire fill the dome, arcades and forecourt for morning Eid prayers, Zakat al-Fitr charity for the needy and joyful greetings of Eid Mubarak. |
| 10th day of 12th Hijri month (10 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Islamic Hijri Lunar | Festival of Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) | Commemorating Prophet Ibrahim's devotion during the Hajj season with morning Eid congregational prayer and charitable distribution of Halal food. |
| 12th of 3rd Hijri month and weekends year-round | Hijri and Gregorian | Mawlid Lectures, Weekend Qur'anic Classes and Taiwan Halal Certification | Educational seminars on Islamic ethics, Arabic classes for youth, and island-wide Halal restaurant certification supporting Muslim travelers. |
Among the diverse international worshippers kneeling side by side under Taipei Grand Mosque's verdigris dome are Vietnamese Muslim workers, students and professionals from Vietnam's Cham Islam communities (originating from An Giang along the Mekong River, Tay Ninh, Ninh Thuan, Dong Nai and Ho Chi Minh City) living in northern Taiwan. In an East Asian dining environment where pork-free Halal meals can be challenging for newcomers to locate, Taipei Grand Mosque's Halal certification directory, welcoming Friday market and free sunset Iftar dinners during Ramadan offer Vietnamese Cham Muslims a deeply comforting spiritual anchor and warm fellowship alongside Indonesian and Malay brothers and sisters.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- No. 62, Sec. 2, Xinsheng South Road, Da'an District, Taipei City 10650, Taiwan (臺北市大安區新生南路二段62號)
- Getting there
- Ride the Taipei Metro Red Line (Tamsui-Xinyi Line) to Daan Park MRT Station (Station R06), take Exit 2, and walk south along Xinsheng South Road beside the park's western edge for about 500 meters (six to seven minutes), or alight at Dongmen Station (Exit 5) or Guting Station and walk roughly ten minutes to No. 62, Sec. 2, Xinsheng South Road.
- Coordinates
- 25.0279, 121.53395
Taipei Grand Mosque warmly welcomes respectful non-Muslim visitors outside active congregational prayer times. Both men and women must dress modestly (tops covering shoulders and upper arms, long trousers or ankle-length skirts, while women entering the prayer hall wear a headscarf, with clean loaner robes and scarves kindly provided at reception), remove shoes before stepping onto the prayer carpets, never walk directly in front of someone bowed in prayer, and never bring pork or alcoholic items onto the premises.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Who initiated and designed Taipei Grand Mosque in 1960?
Spearheaded in 1958 by Hui Muslim General Bai Chongxi and Foreign Minister George K.C. Yeh, Taipei Grand Mosque was designed by celebrated architect Yang Cho-cheng (who later designed Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall) and inaugurated on 13 April 1960.
Why is Xinsheng South Road outside Taipei Grand Mosque called Taipei's 'Road to Heaven'?
Because along a single tree-lined stretch opposite Da'an Forest Park stand major houses of worship of multiple faiths in peaceful neighborliness, including Taipei Grand Mosque, Catholic Holy Family Church, Wesley Methodist Church and Buddhist centers.
May non-Muslim travelers visit the interior of Taipei Grand Mosque?
Yes: Taipei Grand Mosque welcomes respectful visitors outside formal prayer times. Guests should wear long trousers or long skirts with covered shoulders (headscarf for women inside the prayer hall), remove shoes at the rack, and observe quiet etiquette.
What makes the central dome of Taipei Grand Mosque structurally remarkable?
Spanning 15 meters in diameter and rising 15 meters high, the copper-clad reinforced-concrete dome requires zero interior supporting columns, creating an open prayer hall with clear sightlines and warm natural acoustics.
In which direction do worshippers face inside Taipei Grand Mosque?
While the street arcade opens eastward toward Xinsheng South Road and Da'an Forest Park, the interior Mihrab niche and prayer carpets align precisely West-Northwest (at roughly 286 degrees azimuth) along the shortest globe path toward the Kaaba in Mecca.