Qibla direction in Tula

How to face the Qibla in Tula

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards south and move a further 3.8° towards east: the result is the bearing of 176.2°. The direction is close to due south, which makes it easy to remember.

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 Tula, 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

On a flat (Mercator) map, the straight line from Tula to Mecca points to 177.0°, only 0.8° away from the true Qibla. Here the two methods practically agree, so a map gives a usable first idea, although the 176.2° bearing remains the exact one.

How is the figure of 176.2° obtained? From the coordinates of Tula (54.1961° N, 37.6182° 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 Tula to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,649 km from Tula as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,310 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 48 min, although most pilgrims from Tula connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Tula run the same time as Mecca all year. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Tula rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Tula

On 365 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Tula 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 12:17 local time.

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

Tula compared with other cities

The Qibla here is practically the same as in Moscow (176.4°), and Mecca is 173 km closer. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Novomoskovsk (48 km), prays towards 177.3°, a difference of 1.1°.

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 Tula

• Novomoskovsk177.3° · 48 km
• Serpukhov175.9° · 82 km
• Kaluga173.9° · 95 km
• Obninsk174.6° · 120 km
• Kolomna178.2° · 123 km
• Podolsk176.2° · 137 km