TRIESTE AND ISLAM: HISTORY

​

Trieste, which has always been a historically crossroads of cultures, languages, religions and peoples, spontaneously lends itself to being a model of integration and peaceful coexistence.

Numerous buildings of worship, belonging to different religions, are punctual testimony of this harmonious coexistence.

 

The presence of the Islamic community in Trieste is documented since the year 1719, following the opening of economic relations between the Habsburg countries and those subject to the Sublime Porta, favored by Charles VI and Sultan Ahmed III. The community of Turks residing in the Julian city was registered in the 1857 census; already in 1847, however, the Ottoman cemetery located in via della Pace had been established.

Currently the Islamic community of Trieste and its Province exceeds 6,000 units, although it is still gradually increasing.

 

BIRTH AND GROWTH OF THE CENTER 

​

The Islamic Cultural Center of Trieste and Venezia Giulia was  founded on 1 October 1988 by some students from different  Arab countries. The first Trieste office of the Center was located in Via Ireneo della Croce and had just a few dozen faithful. In a short time the increase in the number of these forced the search for a new more spacious location, thus leading, in 2002, to the transfer to via Pascoli 45. In just ten years  the number of faithful exceeded the 300 units and this entailed the need for a first expansion in the same building. In 2014 a further enlargement was carried out allowing a capacity of 500 units.

Despite the new spaces acquired, the high number of faithful was no longer manageable and i responsibili of the Center started a search in order to identify a new autonomous and central office.

October 2015:   the current headquarters are purchased in via Maiolica 17, a period building that needed massive renovations.

Seven months later, the prayer room on the ground floor was inaugurated, while work continues on the upper floors.

The current mosque can hold up to 700 people.

​

 

SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY

​

By basing its work on a better knowledge of the Islamic faith and culture, collaborating with all the Associations, Bodies and representatives of other religions in order to improve relations and relations between the different creeds, in Italy and abroad, the Center Culturale Islamico gives anyone the opportunity to become a member: Muslims and non-Muslims, Italian and foreign citizens, without pursuing profit-making purposes, pursuing its purposes in total autonomy and above the interests of the party, supporting with all its possibilities and its capabilities the cause of justice, peace and the welfare of humanity.

 

Being a Cultural Center, in addition to the five daily prayers that take place in the spaces used as a mosque, the organizational structure provides those interested with a series of services useful for mutual meeting and knowledge: for more than 25 years they have been established at the Center for courses in Arabic language and Islamic religion open to all, without any distinction of creed; every year the  teaching institutes of the city are invited in order to get to know e  to investigate issues related to religion or the most current geopolitics; the Center also carries out an intense activity towards the outside with conferences and meetings, to which are also added various advice provided to students who have supported degree theses and various collaborations with the University of Trieste.

During the month of Ramadhan, the Center is open for the entire month of fasting (day and night) and offers every evening, at sunset, a meal to all the participants (which usually amount to between 150 and 200 units) ; in this specific context, it has also activated a solidarity network for the disadvantaged.