The first mosque in France was the Grand Mosque of Paris, built in 1926 as a token of gratitude for the Muslim colonial subjects who died fighting for France during the First World War. Interestingly, the most ‘centrally’ located of all the mosques in Paris is the Grand Mosque of Paris, which was commissioned and built by the French state.

Modern rhetoric focuses on the influx of Muslim migrants to France beginning with the end of the Second World War and greatly accelerated with the conclusion of the Algerian War for Independence. Out of the opening dates for mosques that were obtained, there is not a single mosque (other than the Grand Mosque) that opens before 1965. This bolsters the argument that the independence of Algeria represented the point when Muslim migration to France began steadily increasing. More about Paris, or Paris’ Islamic schools.

Explore the map below of the mosques in Paris: