Acoustics and prayers: investigations on the Great Mosque of Tirana, Albania

The Great Mosque of Tirana, also called Namazgâh Mosque, is the largest mosque in the Balkans. After the end of the communism, the mosque was requested by the numerous Muslim citizens, as there was a lack of a religious building to pray in. The mosque is characterized by 50 m high minarets, crowned on the perimeter by a 35 m high central dome surmounted by six niches with half domes. The Great Mosque has an area of 600 m
²
, whose floor is covered with a precious carpet, and the interior is illuminated by large windows on the side walls. This paper deals with the acoustic characterization of the main prayer room of the Great Mosque and the comparison with the values measured in other mosques. A short digression about the historical background, as well as the measurement techniques according to ISO 3382 have been given.