When you tour Abu Dhabi, you will notice several mosques spread across the city. However, the one
must-visit for you is the Grand Mosque. The size of this Mosque will amaze you, it stands as the largest Mosque in the world, and its architecture is a notch. The Mosque features the world's biggest hand-tied cover, 82 vaults, over 1,000 segments, and 24-carat gold overlaid light fixtures.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque opens its doors to visitors during visiting hours and is situated in Abu Dhabi, UAE's capital city. The Mosque is the largest in the UAE, and every day, worshippers congregate for prayers at this Mosque from different parts of the world.
The Grand mosque construction started in 1996 and ended in 2007. The Mosque was named Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the name of the UAE's first president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The president died in 2004, and even though the mosque construction was not complete, he was buried in the mosque premises.
Several architectural designs were adopted during the building of this Mosque, making it unique and exotic. It is the Mosque with the largest carpet in the world, measuring 60,570 square feet, a chandelier, and its size to host more than 40 000 worshippers for prayers. All these features, among others, make the Grand mosque stand out as the world's biggest and most unique architectural design.
Grand Mosque stands are the most visited Mosque in UAE all year. Some come for prayers; whiles others come to see the world's largest Mosque.
The main master minder of the Grand Mosque was architect Yousef Abdelky, but there were other more than 3000 workers. Also, 38 construction companies were hired during its 12 years of construction, and the total cost to build Grand Mosque is said to be 2 billion dollars.
The designers of the Grand Mosque were inspired by several other mosques from various regions, such as Persian and Mughal mosques, Abu Al-Abbas Al-Muris Mosque in Egypt, and Badshashi mosque in Lahore, Pakistan.
During stylizing of the Grand Mosque, it was inlaid with 82 white marble domes, 96 inside columns decorated with jewels, 1,096 outside columns, and Swarovski Crystal Chandeliers sculpted in 24-carat gold. More so, there is a water pool.