Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Today we went to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It is one of the largest and most awe inspiring places of worship in the world. There are 82 domes and 1,096 columns made from marble and encrusted with semi precious stones. It has the worlds largest hand woven carpet (7,119 square meters and took 3 planes to get it to Abu Dhabi) and the largest Swarovski crystal chandelier.
The Mosque is illuminated in blue when the moon is a sliver and in white when the moon is full. There are no images of people or animals permitted. Prayer is called 5 times a day from this Mosque and broadcast to all of the surrounding mosques in each community. Men must attend a Mosque 5 times a day and women are permitted to pray from home if they cannot attend the Mosque.



Plaster relief on the ceiling around the cupula

Inlaid semi precious stones on the 1,096 marble columns

Worlds largest handwoven carpet

Largest Swarovski crystal chandelier representing an upside down palm

Wall overlays 

Blue light illumination

Jennifer


Alison and jennifer
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 19, 2015 at 8:26 AM

    Thanks Alison for the blog - and beautiful photos...lovely...elaine

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  2. jenpickDecember 25, 2015 at 10:48 AM

    Gorgeous photos mom! You caught the magical blue light of the mosque so perfectly! I found it so interesting to learn that they vary the colour from blue to white depending on the phase of the moon. I also love how they include projections of clouds when it is overcast. Hope some of the photos we took today of the mosque in white cloudy light work out!

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