Qibla direction in Bergen

How to face the Qibla in Bergen

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 42.7° towards south: the result is the bearing of 132.7°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Bergen.

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 Bergen, 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 Bergen to Mecca points to 147.6° (south-east), 14.9° away from the correct 132.7°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 36 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 132.7° obtained? From the coordinates of Bergen (60.3930° N, 5.3242° 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 Bergen to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,098 km from Bergen as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,779 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 30 min, although most pilgrims from Bergen connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Bergen 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 Bergen rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bergen

On 279 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bergen while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 15 February 2027 it happens at 09:39 local time.

On 33 days the sun stands exactly opposite the Qibla: then the shadow of any vertical object, a pole, a door frame or a plumb line, points straight towards Mecca. This is most frequent in June (26 days), for instance on 15 June 2027 at 22:07.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Bergen: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Bergen compared with other cities

Compared with Oslo, 305 km away, the Qibla in Bergen is turned 6.3° further anticlockwise (132.7° against 139.0°), and Mecca is 247 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Stavanger (160 km), prays towards 132.2°, a difference of 0.5°.

Across the 6 cities in Norway on this site, the Qibla ranges from 132.2° in Stavanger to 140.8° in Trondheim, a spread of 8.7°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Norway.

Qibla in cities near Bergen

• Stavanger132.2° · 160 km
• Drammen138.2° · 280 km
• Kristiansand134.3° · 292 km
• Oslo139.0° · 305 km
• Trondheim140.8° · 429 km