19 Dec 2019 - Cruise Day 9 (Abu Dhabi): The Magnificent Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

We arrived at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque at about 5:30pm.

The two dome-structures below are the entrance to the mosque.

After we alighted the tour bus, we entered the dome and walked towards the mosque compound via a long stretch of underground passage.

Walking along the passage is like shopping in a mall where there are many retail shops and food outlets on both sides of the walkway.

It was quite a long walk of about 30 minutes before we were back outdoor.  At this point, we were in awe by the magnificence of the largest mosque in UAE.  The sun has set and the exterior of the mosque were lighted up beautifully with cool blue lights.

The ladies must cover their heads with a scarf and wear long clothes that cover their ankles and wrists prior to entering the mosque.  Once ready, we entered to see the interior, which leaves us open-mouthed due to its grandiosity and magnificence.

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, one of the most imposing in the world that is commissioned by the Emir to whom it is dedicated, considered the father of the United Arab Emirates.

The Sheikh Zayed Mosque is the third largest mosque in the world and truly majestic in its appearance. With a total of 1048 columns, the mosque has 82 beautiful domes. It also flaunts the largest mosque dome in the world!  The mosque is large enough to accommodate over 40,000 worshippers, while the main prayer hall can hold over 7,000. There are two smaller prayer halls, with a capacity of 1,500 each, one of which is the women's prayer hall.

The mosque’s pillars are veneered with floral designs with semi-precious stones.  In addition, each pillar is decorated with Gold!  This place is incredibly detailed.

There are four minarets on the four corners of the courtyard which rise about 107 m (351 ft) in height. The courtyard, with its floral design, measures about 17,000 m2 (180,000 sq ft), and is considered to be the largest example of marble mosaic in the world.  It was built using 30 million pieces of marble.

The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque has seven imported chandeliers from Germany that incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals.

Under the main dome of the mosque hangs the world’s largest chandelier which is 15 metres high. It weighs around 12 tonnes and is spectacular in its appearance. This 24 carat gold-plated structure is made up of one million Swarovski crystals from Austria.

The prayer hall at Sheikh Zayed Mosque features the world’s largest loomed carpet. The carpet is crafted from Iranian cotton and New Zealand wool and has beautiful Islamic and Iranian art motifs. This magnificent carpet took 1200 weavers and almost one and a half year to be completed. It weighs around 35 tonnes and measures around 60,570 sq feet.

This mosque is probably one of the grandest place which we had visited all these years.

An intricate clock, showing the six prayers and their corresponding times.

From this angle, we were able to see The three main chandeliers in a line.  So beautiful!

We had taken hundreds of photos at every corner of the mosque.  We spent close to an hour admiring the interior of the mosque.

While walking back to the car park, we had another look at the exterior of the mosque, which took over 12 years in its completion and is known as the ‘White Pearl of the Gulf’.

We walked back via the same underpass and emerged from the "dome" entrance where we first entered.  It's good to visit the mosque in the evening as we could avoid the scorching heat from the sun during the day.

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