2011-03-04 14:36

Visitors walk by the Emin Minaret, 2 kilometers east of Turpan, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. [File photo by Xinjiang Daily]

Although ravaged by strong gales almost a year ago, restoration of a mosque beside the largest Muslim tower in Xinjiang - Emin Minaret - is about to start, the China News Service reported on Thursday.

"Restoring work will soon start and complete in a short time," Li Xiao, chief of the cultural relics bureau of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region told China News Service. Visitors can still tour the site during the construction, he said.

The 234-year-old minaret and mosque complex, 2 kilometers east of Turpan, was hit by level 10 winds in April 2010, blowing down a section of a wall of the mosque which is 4 meters long and 3 meters tall.

As the largest Islamic tower in Xinjiang, Emin Minaret was built in 1777 and financed by local leaders to honor the exploits of a local Turpan general, Emin Khoja, hence the name "Emin".