Mosques in Nantes

Nantes, prefecture of the Loire-Atlantique department and France's sixth largest urban area, hosts a Muslim community established since the industrial migrations of the 1960s, mainly of North African, Turkish, West African and Comorian origin. The city, at the heart of the Nantes metropolitan area, has six identified places of worship, spread across the Bellevue, Malakoff, Beaulieu and Dervallières districts and the northern Chapelle sur Erdre area.

Where to find a mosque in Nantes

Bellevue, in the west, gathers several halls: Fathi Mosque, Mevlana Mosque and the Turkish Mosque serve the district and its edges. Further south, Aicha Mosque sits on boulevard Jean Moulin in Malakoff. To the east, Assalam Mosque opens on boulevard de Seattle in Beaulieu, and to the north Arrahma Mosque serves the Chapelle sur Erdre and Île de Versailles area. Each opens for the five daily prayers and Friday prayer, with peak attendance at Friday noon. Saint-Herblain, west of the commune, rounds out the offer for the Sillon de Bretagne and Preux districts.

Public transport access

The TAN network covers the whole commune with three tram lines (1, 2, 3), one busway line (4), a dense Chronobus grid and regular bus lines. Tram line 1 links the station, the city centre and Bellevue in about twenty minutes. Nantes station welcomes high-speed trains from Paris (two hours), Bordeaux, Lyon and Rennes, along with regional TER services across the Pays de la Loire region. Bellevue mosques are reachable by tram line 1, the Malakoff mosque by tram line 1 as well via the Wattignies stop, and the Beaulieu mosque by bus line C5.

Local context

Nantes sits within a metropolitan area of over six hundred thousand inhabitants that includes Saint-Herblain to the west, Rezé to the south, Orvault and Carquefou to the north. The Bellevue, Malakoff and Dervallières districts have historically concentrated a large share of the Muslim community and gather halal butchers, Middle-Eastern grocers and North African, Turkish and Senegalese restaurants. The Île de Nantes and the city centre, undergoing extensive renewal, complete this network. Worshippers who live or work in Nantes sometimes attend mosques in Saint-Herblain depending on proximity.