Qibla direction in Biysk

How to face the Qibla in Biysk

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards west and move a further 24.1° towards south: the result is the bearing of 245.9°. A small error of a few degrees is forgiven by most scholars, but aiming simply at west would leave you about 24° 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 Biysk, 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

This is a place where maps mislead badly: a straight line on a flat map from Biysk to Mecca points to 228.6° (south-west), a full 17.3° away from the true Qibla of 245.9° (south-west). The map line keeps one compass heading and is 53 km longer than the great-circle route. Because the Earth is a sphere, the shortest way to Mecca from Biysk first heads south-west, and that is the direction to face.

How is the figure of 245.9° obtained? From the coordinates of Biysk (52.5342° N, 85.1966° 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 Biysk to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 5,176 km from Biysk as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,921 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 6 h 35 min, although most pilgrims from Biysk connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Biysk run 4 hours ahead of Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Biysk rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Biysk

On 244 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Biysk 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 1 March 2027 it happens at 17:54 local time.

On 89 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 July (31 days), for instance on 15 May 2027 at 06:10.

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

Biysk compared with other cities

Compared with Moscow, 3,058 km away, the Qibla in Biysk is turned 69.5° further clockwise (245.9° against 176.4°), and Mecca is 1,355 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Barnaul (135 km), prays towards 243.6°, a difference of 2.2°.

Across the 158 cities in Russia on this site, the Qibla ranges from 148.7° in Kaliningrad to 305.3° in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, a spread of 156.6°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Russia.

Qibla in cities near Biysk

• Barnaul243.6° · 135 km
• Prokopyevsk246.3° · 184 km
• Novokuznetsk246.8° · 188 km
• Mezhdurechensk247.8° · 230 km
• Leninsk-Kuznetsky245.1° · 245 km
• Rubtsovsk242.6° · 296 km