British Mosques

British Mosques is a collaboration between the Victoria and Albert Museum and the University of Westminster that explores the history of British mosques, from their origins in improvised spaces to their modern purpose-built structures. It features perspectives from curators, architects, and artists and uses a range of methods to tell the story of this hybrid architecture.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 132 pages
Publication date: 22 May 2021
Publisher: Foolscap Editions

The Victoria and Albert Museum and the University of Westminster have collaborated to create a book that captures the British mosque at a pivotal moment in its history. The UK currently has 1,800 mosques, many of which have been converted from various structures such as terraced houses, libraries, cinemas, and supermarkets. However, these improvised spaces are now beginning to disappear as Muslim communities replace them with purpose-built structures. This timely exploration of the British mosque reveals how ad-hoc adaptations have evolved into a uniquely British-Islamic architecture, tracing its development through waves of twentieth-century migration and further back to the Orientalist visions of Victorian collectors. British Mosques brings together perspectives from curators, architects, and artists, using approaches ranging from archival study to site-specific installations and 3D scanning to tell the story of a hybrid architecture that has quietly found its place in Britain's urban landscape. The book is co-published by Foolscap Editions and the V&A.

Weight: 348g
Dimension: 173 x 240 x 12 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781999799069