Like a mirage, the Missiri Mosque appears in the Fréjus landscape, glowing ochre against the celestial blue. An unusual and unique monument in France, it remains faithful to the architecture of West African mosques.
As early as 1928, the military were thinking of building a mosque for colonial troops, so that soldiers from the colonial empire would not feel too isolated outside their homeland. The project was initiated by Captain Abdel Kader Mademba, with the support of Colonel Lame, then commander in arms. The aim was to build a monument comparable to the Hông Hiên Tu pagoda, built by the Indochinese tirailleurs.
Completed in 1930, it stands not far from the Caïs camp. At the time, it was decorated with African huts and termite mounds reconstituted to "give the black rifleman the illusion, as faithful as possible, of the materialization of a setting similar to the one he left ; in the evenings, during interminable palaver sessions, the echoes of the tom-tom echoing against the walls of a familiar building, evoking visions likely to soften the feeling of isolation he sometimes suffers from, placing him, as it were, in a native atmosphere. " (Captain Abdel Kader Mademba).
It is the property of the Ministry of Defense. The Musée des troupes de marine in Fréjus is responsible for its safekeeping.
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Mise à jour le 28/02/2024 Par Office de tourisme de Fréjus