Qibla direction in Dresden

How to face the Qibla in Dresden

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 44.2° towards east: the result is the bearing of 135.8°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Dresden.

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 Dresden, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Dresden is a handy reference, because the 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 Dresden to Mecca points to 145.3° (south-east), 9.5° away from the correct 135.8°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 13 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 135.8° obtained? From the coordinates of Dresden (51.0509° N, 13.7383° 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 Dresden to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,996 km from Dresden as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,690 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 12 min, although most pilgrims from Dresden connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Dresden run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Dresden rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Dresden

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Dresden 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 08:52 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Dresden 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 Dresden: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Dresden compared with other cities

Compared with Berlin, 165 km away, the Qibla in Dresden is turned 0.9° further anticlockwise (135.8° against 136.7°), and Mecca is 134 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Chemnitz (62 km), prays towards 134.4°, a difference of 1.3°.

Across the 63 cities in Germany on this site, the Qibla ranges from 124.8° in Freiburg im Breisgau to 136.7° in Berlin, a spread of 11.9°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Germany.

Qibla in cities near Dresden

• Chemnitz134.4° · 62 km
• Leipzig134.2° · 101 km
• Gera133.3° · 118 km
• Halle133.8° · 131 km
• Jena132.7° · 151 km
• Potsdam136.1° · 157 km