The decline of the Soviet Union led to the end of persecution against religion, which in turn, resulted in a massive process of construction of new religious buildings and the restoration of destroyed ones throughout all of Russia. At the beginning of the 1990s Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and other regions of Russia with primarily Muslim populations saw the active construction of new mosques. Still, their architecture, generally, didn't possess particular cultural value. The interruption of the tradition of design and construction of religious architecture for over seventy years is held responsible for such a change. The objectives of the article are to research different approaches to mosque building in the context of urban development of modern times, describe the possibilities for the decorative ornament of the mosque’s interior, the role of the mosque as a center of the social and cultural life of the inhabitants of small settlements. Results of the study: an analysis of the realized projects of mosques in Russia and abroad was conducted. Thus, while projecting the construction or restoration of the cathedral, district, or village mosques: (1)the cultural traditions of Muslim nations of Russia should be considered, (2)the creation of non-secular sacral images of mosques not copying the Arabic or Ottoman motives should be pursued. Conclusion: results based on the analyzed examples of mosques show patterns of their main features, which form unique images, highlighting national identity.