Medvedev to visit Moscow Cathedral Mosque, meet with muftis

MOSCOW, July 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will
visit on Wednesday the Moscow Cathedral Mosque and will meet with Russian
muftis, the Kremlin press service reported.
"Most careful attention must be given to spiritual education in such a
multi-confessional and multinational country as Russia," Medvedev noted
when he was first deputy prime minister. "It is obvious that a dialogue of
religion and culture is an indispensable condition for the unity of the
Russian nature, civil accord and sovereignty," he stressed at a meeting
with leaders of Islamic communities in November 2007.
Enhancing religious education is the task of the state, religious
associations and the Russian education system, he stressed.
The Cathedral Mosque in Prospect Mira was built by Moscow architect
Zhukov in 1904. Over ten years ago a madrasa was built there. Work to
expand the mosque was scheduled to begin in 2003, but it was frozen
because of financial difficulties. The mosque can hold about 1,000 people,
while after the reconstruction it will hold over 5,000 Muslims.
There are four other mosques in Moscow, and two mosques are under
construction.