Qibla direction in Oradea

How to face the Qibla in Oradea

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 35.6° towards east: the result is the bearing of 144.4°. 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 Oradea.

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 Oradea, 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 Oradea to Mecca points to 150.4° (south-east), 6.0° away from the correct 144.4°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 4 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 144.4° obtained? From the coordinates of Oradea (47.0458° N, 21.9183° 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 Oradea to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,273 km from Oradea as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 2,960 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 21 min, although most pilgrims from Oradea connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Oradea run 1 hour behind Mecca in winter and the same time as 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 Oradea rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Oradea

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Oradea 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 10:03 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Oradea 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 Oradea: at 12:18 and 12:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Oradea compared with other cities

Compared with Bucharest, 436 km away, the Qibla in Oradea is turned 5.0° further anticlockwise (144.4° against 149.3°), and Mecca is 421 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Arad (106 km), prays towards 142.4°, a difference of 2.0°.

Across the 20 cities in Romania on this site, the Qibla ranges from 141.8° in Timișoara to 154.8° in Iași, a spread of 13.0°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Romania.

Qibla in cities near Oradea

• Arad142.4° · 106 km
• Satu Mare146.7° · 110 km
• Cluj-Napoca147.0° · 131 km
• Baia Mare147.8° · 142 km
• Timișoara141.8° · 153 km
• Târgu Mureş148.5° · 209 km