Grand Mosque of Paris

The Grand Mosque of Paris is crowned by a white minaret that stretches thirty-three meters into the sky, distinct from the surrounding limestone architecture of the Latin Quarter. Built in the nineteen twenties, it stands as an official gesture of gratitude toward Muslim soldiers who fought for France during the First World War. During the second German occupation, its rector Si Kaddour Benghabrit used the mosque’s labyrinthine basement passages to shelter Jewish families and resistance fighters, providing them with fabricated certificates of Muslim identity.