Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Once again I am over in Dubai for my annual christmas holidays to see my family and for the past 2 years i've been meaning to go and see the magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Its the only main mosque in the UAE where women and non muslims are allowed to roam freely around the grounds! 

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was a dream in the heart of the Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan "May God rest his Soul", where he established its general vision, set its foundation stone, and crowned thereby a journey full of fulfilled dreams and great achievements. The Mosque is an expression of a visionary leader who believed that nothing is impossible and conceived that the most gracious achievements start from the heart.

There are 82 domes of various sizes and the largest is located in the centre of the main prayer hall.  The design elements include pure white marble cladding; onion shaped ‘crowns’ and crescent shaped finials decorated with gold-glass mosaic.  The elongated windows allow the natural light to enter the prayer halls.

There are about 1200 pillars surrounding the mosque, each made with white marble and decorates with semi precious stones to symbolize the muslim ideology of heaven. Each column lines up perfectly and you can see from end to end through the gap and is adorned with gold palm tree leaves at the top.

There are seven crystal chandeliers made by Faustig (Munich, Germany) situated inside the halls and foyers. The largest (located in the main prayer hall and considered one of the world’s largest in a mosque and is weighing approximately 12 tons.

The main prayer hall houses the world’s largest hand-knotted carpet. The intricate Islamic medallion design was made by third generation carpet maker and artist, Dr. Ali Khaliqi.  The predominantly wool carpet was hand-crafted by approximately 1,200 artisans.

Its creation was a two year project, the design took approximately 8 months, the knotting 12 months and the remaining time to transport, trim and weave the pieces together. The final single piece carpet is 5,700 square meters, about 70% being wool and the rest of 30% is cotton.