Missiri mosque

The Missiri Mosque is a former French military community center inspired by sub-Saharan Islamic architecture. It was constructed in 1928–1930 for the Senegalese Tirailleurs based in military camps in Fréjus, southern France. Although its appearance evokes that of a mosque, its purpose and uses remained secular. The building was included in the supplementary inventory of French historic monuments on 18 June 1987. The Senegalese Tirailleurs (Tirailleurs Sénégalais) was a corps of colonial infantry in the French Army. They were initially recruited from Senegal and subsequently throughout the sub-Saharan regions of the French colonial empire. These infantry units took on the adjective "sénégalese" since that was where the first African Tirailleur regiment had been formed in 1857 by Louis Faidherbe, governor-general of French West Africa. At the outbreak of World War I, 37 battalions of French, North African and Senegalese infantry were transferred from Morocco to France. Five Senegalese battalions were soon serving on the Western Front, while others formed part of the reduced French garrison in Morocco. On the Western Front, the Senegalese Tirailleurs served with distinction at Ypres and Dixmude during the First Battle of Ypres in late 1914, at the capture of Fort Douaumont in October 1916, during the Battle of Chemin des Dames in April 1917 and at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918. Losses were particularly heavy in Flanders (estimated from 3,200 to 4,800) and Chemin des Dames (7,000 out of 15,500 tirailleurs engaged). In 1915, the French high command realized that the war would last far longer than they had originally imagined. They authorized a major recruitment drive in West Africa and 93 Senegalese battalions were raised between 1915 and 1918. The harsh conditions of trench warfare were a particular source of suffering to the un-acclimatized African soldiers and, after 1914/15, the practice was adopted of withdrawing them to the south of France for training and re-equipping each winter.