Mosques Under Soviet Government: Institutional and Architectural Change, 1917–1991

Historiography still lacks a consistent explanation of how the institutional, architectural, and communal condition of mosques changed under Soviet government. This study reconstructs the historical effects of state religious policy on mosque activity, building use, and the social position of Muslim communities between 1917 and 1991. The investigation combines historical-comparative analysis, hermeneutics, source criticism, archival research, and a chronological-comparative matrix. Normative acts, administrative correspondence, records concerning religious institutions, and evidence related to architectural sites were compared to identify connections between political decisions and their local consequences. The findings support dividing the period from 1917 to 1991 into three historical phases: closures and repurposing intensified during the initial phase, supervision and restricted activity dominated the middle phase, and a more cautious attitude toward religious heritage emerged during the final phase. This sequence explains mosque conditions not only through administrative prohibitions but also through the interaction of buildings, ritual practice, and community life. The article’s scientific contribution is a three-phase interpretive model that treats Soviet religious policy not as a fixed system but as a historical mechanism that changed successively over time. The model clarifies why institutional continuity, architectural survival, and communal memory developed unevenly under comparable administrative pressure. It also provides a framework for tracing the historical preservation of religious heritage after 1991 and for distinguishing inherited structures from later restoration narratives. The approach can support future comparative research on religious institutions exposed to prolonged state regulation.