The Great Mosque is located in Hua jue Lane, which branches off
from the West Main Street. It is the major spot for the religious
activities of over 60,000 Moslems in Xi'an. It is also an important
historical monument in Shaanxi Province. Unlike Arabian mosques
with sqlendid domes, skyward minarets, and dazzling patterns, this
mosque possesses mush chinese tradition in both design and artistic
outlook. It assumes the striking features of Chinese pavilions,
with painted beams and engraved ridgepoles.The Great Mosque is the most sizable of its kind in the city of Xi'an, and also one of the oldest and best-preserved mosques in china. The stone tablet on the Building of the Mosques says that it was built in the Tang Dynasty. However, judging from its architectural style, it was possibly built in the Ming Dynasty. Its four courtyards cover an area of more than 12,000 square meters, with a building aewa of 4,000 square meters. The still intact wooden memorial arch in the front yard was built at the turn of the 17th century. With glazed tiles, sqectacular corners, and upturned eaves, it stands about nice meters high, and has a histroy of about 360 years.
The stone memorial gateway in the center of the second courtyard is flanked by two tall tables, with dragons carved on each. They record the details of the repair work ever conducted since the building of the mosque. One tablet bears the characters by the Song master calligrapher Mi Fu: "May Islam Fill the Universe."the other bears the characters by the Song master calligrapher Dong Qichang, "Royally Bestowed."these characters are typical examples of traditional Chinese calligraphy.
At the entrance of the third courtyard is a hall built by the order of the Royal court, where a "Crescent Tablet,"showing the calculation of the Islaluic Calendar is stored. The calendar was compiled by Xiao Xining, who was in charge of the mosque in the early period of the Qing Dynasty. A three-storeyed octagonal wooden structure called the Retrospection Tower stands in the center of the courtyard. It functions the same as the minaret in an average Arabian mosque. Orders are often sent from the tower to call the Moslems to come to worship. Respectively on the south and north wings of the tower are the Reception Chanber and the five wooden houses, called "water houses," in the southwest section of the mosque, are where the believers bathe themselves before they attend their services.
Inside the fourth courtyard, there is a structure called the phoenix pavilion, a place where worshipers wait for services. The pavilion, in fact, is a complex of three small buildings. The six- gabled buildings on each side which make it look like a flying phoenix; hence its name. Just at the back of the pavilion there is a fish pond, and beyond it is a platform with an area of 700 square meters. Across the platform stands the 1,300- square-meter prayer hall. It holds over 1,000 worshipers at a time . the ceiling is decorated with over 600 panels, are decorated with patterns of trailing plants and Arabic letters. The shrine at the western end of the hall is where the imam and worshipers chant the koran and pay homage while facing in the direction of Mecca.
