About the mosque

In the early 15th century, the "high-born Batald" (as the local Tatars called the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vitovt) settled in the tract of Murovshchizna Tatars brought by him after his expeditions to the Crimea. This is how one of the largest sieges in Belarus appeared. At first, the Muslim Tatars lived in ordinary buildings, which they adapted to their cult needs. However, large Tatar sieges aimed to have separate cult buildings - mosques.

The mosque in Muravschizna was built in 1882 with the money of Countess Elvira Zamoyska, the owner of Ivie. The project of the mosque in Muravshizna was developed and approved by the construction department of the provincial government, which is currently stored in the Central State Archive of Lithuania. Despite the strict requirements of the project, the mosque was built with significant changes from the project, using traditional methods of local carpenters. Originally, the structure, walls and ceilings were not paneled and painted.

In 1922, with money sent from the United States by Tatar emigrants, the minaret was renovated, a porch with two entrances was completed, and the walls were boarded and painted. Since then, the mosque has experienced many renovations, until in 2014-2017, as a result of repair and restoration works, it acquired its current appearance, as close as possible to its original historical appearance.

The Iviev Mosque, a monument of wooden architecture with Art Nouveau features, was granted the status of historical and cultural value in 2007. It is the only one of two dozen mosques that existed in Belarus in the pre-war years, and during the Soviet regime it was the only functioning mosque in Belarus.