Qibla direction in Hrodna

How to face the Qibla in Hrodna

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 26.9° towards east: the result is the bearing of 153.1°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at south would leave you about 27° off.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Hrodna, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. A nearby mosque is a handy reference, because its prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Hrodna to Mecca points to 159.1° (south), 6.1° away from the correct 153.1°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 5 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 153.1° obtained? From the coordinates of Hrodna (53.6758° N, 23.8289° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Hrodna to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,834 km from Hrodna as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,504 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 01 min, although most pilgrims from Hrodna connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Hrodna run the same time as Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Hrodna rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Hrodna

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Hrodna while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in January (31 days); for example, on 1 January 2027 it happens at 11:32 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Hrodna during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Hrodna: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Hrodna compared with other cities

Compared with Minsk, 247 km away, the Qibla in Hrodna is turned 6.1° further anticlockwise (153.1° against 159.2°), and Mecca is 77 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Lida (99 km), prays towards 155.5°, a difference of 2.5°.

Across the 13 cities in Belarus on this site, the Qibla ranges from 151.8° in Brest, Brest Oblast, Belarus to 164.2° in Homyel, a spread of 12.4°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Belarus.

Qibla in cities near Hrodna

• Lida155.5° · 99 km
• Baranovichi156.2° · 157 km
• Brest, Brest Oblast, Belarus151.8° · 174 km
• Pinsk155.7° · 229 km
• Minsk159.2° · 247 km
• Borisov160.9° · 312 km