The Truly Amazing Mosque of Xi’an is organized just like a traditional Chinese temple, with successive courtyards of pavilions and pagodas taking up a lengthy and narrow site (48 meters by 248 meters).
However the buildings’ Islamic function becomes obvious on closer inspection, using the usual figurative decoration mostly changed by Arabic and Chinese calligraphy. The complex is aligned with an east-west axis, facing Mecca.
The mosque has five courtyards in most, resulting in a prayer hall (off-limits to non-Muslims) in the western finish from the site. Each courtyard includes a monumental pavilion or gate.
The 3rd courtyard, known as Qing Xiu Dian (“Host to Meditation”) hosts the highest tower within the complex, because the Xing Xin Ting (“Pavilion for More self examination”) or Sheng Xin Lou (“Tower from the Going to Heart”). Rising over ten meters tall, the octagonal in shape brick tower includes three tales separated by eaves and surrounded in wooden balconies.
