Grand Mosque of Paris

Grand Mosque of Paris tickets and tours: which one to book

The Grand Mosque of Paris sells nothing online for the mosque alone. Tourist visits are made by paying a small fee at the entrance on the Place du Puits de l'Ermite, which lets you walk through the courtyards, the patio and the garden; the prayer hall itself is reserved for worshippers and is seen only from the doorway. Muslims coming to pray enter freely at prayer times. The bookable alternative is a guided visit in English or French that walks you through the complex and its gardens, explains the decoration and the circumstances of its building after the First World War, and often ends with mint tea in the courtyard cafe.

Such tours include the guide and the entry; the tea, pastries and anything from the restaurant or the hammam are usually extra. A guide is worthwhile here because almost no signage explains what you are seeing, and the story of why the French state paid for a mosque in the 1920s is the most interesting part of the visit. Otherwise, the mosque fits easily into a walk around the Latin Quarter. It stands across the road from the Jardin des Plantes, a few minutes on foot from the Place Monge metro station, and many visitors combine a look at the courtyards with a glass of tea and a sweet pastry in the tea room, which is open to everyone and needs no ticket.

Visiting Grand Mosque of Paris: what to see and how to behave

From the street you see whitewashed walls, green-tiled roofs and a square minaret about 33 m high, modelled on the minarets of North Africa and especially on the Zitouna Mosque in Tunis. Inside, the complex unfolds as a series of courtyards in the Hispano-Moorish manner. The main patio, with its marble basin, carved cedar wood and walls of zellige tilework, is the finest space, and it opens onto the prayer hall with its carpets and chandeliers. Beyond is a garden of fig trees, roses and fountains, laid out in the spirit of the gardens of the Alhambra, and a separate wing houses the tea room, restaurant and hammam. The mosque was built between 1922 and 1926 as a national tribute to the tens of thousands of Muslim soldiers from France's African colonies who died for France in the First World War.

It was designed by Maurice Tranchant de Lunel and decorated by craftsmen brought over from Morocco and Algeria, who did the plaster carving, the tilework and the woodwork by hand. It is the oldest mosque in mainland France and a listed historic monument. During the Second World War its rector is said to have sheltered people hunted by the occupiers, a story that remains debated. Dress modestly, speak quietly, do not enter the prayer hall unless you have come to pray, and avoid photographing people at prayer. Take the metro to Place Monge or Censier-Daubenton, or walk from the Jardin des Plantes.

Grand Mosque of Paris: opening hours, ceremonies and the best time to go

Tourist visits run on most days from morning until the late afternoon, but they are not possible on Fridays, the day of the main congregational prayer, nor on major Muslim holidays such as the two Eids; check the official site for the current hours before you go. The tea room and restaurant keep longer hours and are open on most days. Weekday mornings are the quietest time for the courtyards. The garden is at its best from April to June, when the roses and fig trees are in leaf and the tea room terrace is shaded and pleasant.

During Ramadan the visiting hours can change, and the evenings are given over to the breaking of the fast. Forty-five minutes to an hour is enough for the courtyards and garden, with another half hour for tea. The mosque combines naturally with the Jardin des Plantes and the Natural History Museum across the road, the Arab World Institute a short walk away on the Seine, and the Roman arena of Lutece and the Rue Mouffetard market.