Minaret
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A minaret is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generally used to project the Muslim call to prayer from a muezzin, but they also served as landmarks and symbols
Minaret at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus
An orientalist depiction of the muezzin's call to prayer from the balcony of a minaret, 1878. Usually only one muezzin chants the azan from the balcony, back straight and not leaning on the railing.
Inside the stairway of a minaret in Mostar
Inside the Giralda minaret in Seville, which has ascending ramps instead of stairs
The federal popular initiative "against the construction of minarets" was a successful popular initiative in Switzerland to prevent the construction of minarets on mosques. In a November 2009 referend
Minaret
…List of tallest minarets 2009 Swiss minaret referendum List of tallest mosques…
The Ahmadiyya mosque in Zürich (built 1963), the oldest Swiss mosque with a minaret
On the evening of the vote, demonstrations against the result were held in Switzerland's major cities. The banner beneath the makeshift minarets reads: "Integrate rather than exclude."
Minaret at the mosque of the local Turkish cultural association in Wangen bei Olten, the initial motivation for the popular initiative.
On 8 December 2009, a mock minaret was erected over an industrial storage facility in Bussigny, in protest against the referendum outcome.