Ed Webb | My Amplog

Anita Greil Entrepreneur Guillaume Morand stands in front of the minaret he had built in Bussigny, Switzerland.

When the referendum passed, the ban on the construction of new minarets instantly became Swiss law, but the government didn’t define exactly what constitutes a minaret. The law simply bans the construction of new ones. A parliamentary report outlining the issue before the vote says a minaret can exist without a mosque and without any religious function. Indeed, one of Switzerland’s four existing minarets is a free-standing structure not attached to a mosque.

Mr. Morand, a Lausanne native who does not actively practice any religion, decided the day after the vote to build his minaret.

It took Mr. Morand’s workers half a day to raise the 265-pound minaret up four floors and over the lip of the roof. He then installed two 500-watt spotlights to light it at night.

“Thank you for restoring my faith in Switzerland,”Read more at online.wsj.com