Mosques in Denmark and Sweden: Negotiations of public space, borders and identity The presence of mosques in Europe’s public spaces as part of the establishment of Islam is a recent phenomenon that has evoked in-depth social and cultural reactions and debates derived from the political, social, cultural and religious histories of Western and Islamic societies and relations. This paper seeks to contribute to the still emerging field of study of European Islam by exploring the relation between religion and architectural design in a wider theoretical and socio-political context. The study focuses on the processes surrounding the creation of contemporary purpose-built mosques and mosques in the initial stage of construction in Sweden and Denmark. An underlying assumption of this paper is that architectural specificities represent and reflect complex processes on several levels. Therefore the designs are used as lenses for examining the interactions between the Muslim actors promoting the erection of individual mosques, the architects designing them, and the impact of the discourses in which these negotiations are embedded. Questions asked are: Which considerations influence Muslim actors in each individual case with regard to such issues as gender, power, class, and the borders between public space and the private sphere in relation to Islamic tradition and identity? How are Islamic iconography and symbols incorporated visually as well as acoustically? To what extent are architects bound to the architectural discourse on mosque building, and what motives are guiding them in their designs? Do architects consider themselves agents of integration, how do they relate to their clients, and how are these negotiations visualized in the architectural designs? Empirical research continuously is conducted by following the work of the actors involved by in-depth and semi-structured interviews. The qualitative data evolving from this research will be analyzed and woven into a discussion on the national characteristics of both states taking into account variables that include the form of the state; the judicial systems governing church–state relations, the status of religious minorities, patterns of immigration, and laws covering citizenship. Postcolonial theory and the concepts of cultural memory and cultural heritage form a wide theoretical frame of the study. Once completed this study will contribute to a better informed debate and understanding of the negotiations and perhaps renegotiations of borders and identity, not only among European Muslims, but also at the intersection of public and private spheres of European societies.