Qibla direction in Olsztyn

How to face the Qibla in Olsztyn

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 32.0° towards east: the result is the bearing of 148.0°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “south” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Olsztyn.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Olsztyn to Mecca points to 155.3° (south-east), 7.4° away from the correct 148.0°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 7 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.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 53.7838° N, 20.4927° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Olsztyn to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,952 km from Olsztyn as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,627 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 09 min, although most pilgrims from Olsztyn connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Olsztyn 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 Olsztyn rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Olsztyn

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Olsztyn 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 09:22 local time.

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

Olsztyn compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Warsaw (147.6°), and Mecca is 165 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Elblag (82 km), prays towards 146.6°, a difference of 1.3°.

Across the 33 cities in Poland on this site, the Qibla ranges from 139.1° in Szczecin to 151.6° in Bialystok, a spread of 12.6°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Poland.

Qibla in cities near Olsztyn

• Elblag146.6° · 82 km
• Gdansk145.7° · 136 km
• Płock145.8° · 147 km
• Gdynia145.6° · 152 km
• Torun144.5° · 152 km
• Włocławek145.0° · 158 km