The Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi

27th August 2014

A nice warm day in Abu Dhabi, and we were taken off to see the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, with its 82 domes and the spectacular white marble facade.  Conceived by the current ruler's father as a monument to "tolerance. love and mutual understanding" no stone has been left unturned (quite literally) in implementing and putting together this vision.

Opened in 2007, there were shades of the Taj Mahal and the Blue Mosque for me.

An imposing complex that can be seen from quite a distance. The third floor of the northern minaret houses a whole library!

The "towers" in the outer walkway house the elaborate lighting system.  There are some 22 of these around the mosque.  We went at midday, but it seems that the night illumination is quite spectacular, with the lighting reflecting the phases of the moon.

The imposing main entrance

The coloured marble inlays were beautiful and varied.

I used the iPhone panorama option to capture the grandness of the central courtyard, its floral decorations contrasting the stark white marble.

I saw the world's largest hand knotted carpet

Two years in the making, the carpet needed some 1,200 artisans!

Beautiful copies of the holy book.

Moroccan stuccowork.  Beautiful isnt it?

Verses from the Quran - there were different kinds of calligraphy in different domes.

The chandeliers were from Faustiq in Germany we were told.

The pulpit

Very Grand indeed!