The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - the pearl of ABU DHABI

in #travelfeed6 years ago

✌️The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was one of my last stops in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. If you want to learn more about this impressive place - I invite you to read!

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When entering Abu Dhabi, you can not miss this building - the mosque is one of the largest in the world. You can see him from a distance of many kilometers.

Its construction lasted almost 12 years, covers an area of ​​22 412 square meters. The initiator of the construction of the temple was Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan, called the Father of the Emirates - the first president of the country, holding this position for 33 years. Unfortunately, he did not see the temple opening - he died in 2004, three years before the planned opening.

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The best time to visit the mosque is early afternoon, before it is dark. Then you have the opportunity to admire him in the light of the burning sun, as well as after dark. In both cases it's worth it!

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Before you get inside (admission is free) you have to be properly dressed. Gentlemen, they should have long pants and covered arms. If you have tattoos on your hands - you will need to wear a long-sleeved sweatshirt.

For women, the outfit is a bit more stringent. It is forbidden to wear short skirts, short sleeves or tight blouses. It is also necessary to cover the hair.

If someone comes to your place unprepared, he can rent an appropriate outfit on the spot for free.

After crossing the gates, the mosque brings down its impetus. Huge minerals and domes in a snow-white color as a symbol of piety make an amazing impression. Suffice it to say that 40,000 believers can pray at the same time at the mosque!

The courtyard of the mosque with an area of 17,000 square meters, which adorns the world's largest marble mosaic, makes a stunning impression.

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Many different materials were used to build the temple: marble, gold, semi-precious stones, ceramics and crystal glass.

The building is decorated with 82 domes, including the largest dome of the world (with an internal diameter of 70 m and an external one of 85 m) located above the main prayer room. The finials of the domes and minarets and the capitals of all columns were made of 24-carat gold. Plan Sheikh Zayed Mosque and the layout of the domes refer to the architecture of the Great Mughals.

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The surroundings of the courtyard and the interior are admired barefoot.

The courtyard is surrounded by over 1000 columns, in the corners there are four minarets with a height of 107 m.

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Every now and then prayers are heard in the courtyard. Listening you can have shivers on your back:

Around the mosque are located pools, in which the arcades reflect, and the building impresses with thoughtful symmetry.

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The interior of the mosque is impressive not less than its external part. The harmony of ornaments and colors gives the impression of masterpieces of art.

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The temple is illuminated by 7 gigantic chandeliers made of millions of Svarovski crystals, and the largest of them, 15 m high, 10 m in diameter and weighing 12 tons, is in the main prayer room and is the third largest chandelier in the world.

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In the main prayer room there is the world's largest hand-woven carpet with an area of ​​5,627 square meters and a weight of 35 tons! Weavers to make 2 billion (!) Strands needed 2 years to make it.

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Main Hall:

After dark, the mosque gives the impression of an architectural miracle. Each single lamp is where it should be. There is not the slightest case here.

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As long as you are in the Emirates, the Great Sheikh Zayed Mosque is a must-visit!

@lashotta

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Hiya, @livinguktaiwan here, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in today's Travel Digest #360.

Please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider upvoting the Travel Digest if you like what we're doing.

Hey, @steemitworldmap, @livinguktaiwan, I saw! Thank you very much for mentioning, Guys! :)

WOW WOW WOW WOW...now...where to start. First of all, your pictures are aaaaabsolutely amazing :)

But regarding these Dubai and Abu Dhabi Sheikh buildings..dunno...I just don't agree with it. But I gues it's the culture. But I mean, it's an overkill, whatever anyone says. It's just too much.

But in all the negativity, the video of prayers caused those shivers you mention immediately. I've spent 4 months in Pakistan and experienced some very strong moments in such mosques (no, I didnt turn muslim haha :D). I got woken up by prayers at least 100 times. So hearing Quran always causes special feelings in me. I honestly believe Islam is a nice religion which is totally misunderstood. But yeah, i'm getting offtopic hahah :D

Great post, thanks for sharing that vid. I'm going to listen to some Pakistani/Indian music now :) I love e.g Aashiqui 2 :D Give it a chance :)

Let's leave religion alone. I went there to see the miracle of architecture. Just when it comes to the Emirates, everything must be 'the best and the biggest' :) The Emirates owe much to Sheikh Zayed, maybe that's why this size beats the eyes.

What does it mean - strong moments? :D

Oh my, I just turned on the first song on YT list 'Aashiqui 2 Jukebox Full Songs'. What a fantastic music! Thanks for sharing! :)

Hah yepp good point about letting the religion be. I just have the chip in the shoulder from some reason as I hear soo many people talking crap about it. And they have nooo idea what they talk about as they never met one single muslim. Whatever.

I used to wait on my friend from architecture department in a mosque. We were interns at the University and went always back to dorms for lunch. And mosque was the only building with AC. So I always waited on him there. And just watching those people praying. Dunno, it just was strong :) Never seen osmething like that before. Haha glad you gave it a try! :D

I'm at my in laws with their slowest internet in the world so it took me AGES to load the pictures, but oh boy it was so worth the waiting!

I must say WOW! I love mosques in general and this building is grand! I love that they always use so much marble to cover the courtyards.

You make me think about my experience from Morocco. The mosque in Casablanca is the largest one in the West Africa. When I was there I was young and I didn't know anything about Islam so I just wanted to enter the mosque with my shoes. The moment I put my feet inside, a guy come running towards me and really yelling. He scared me to death. I think he was upset that I didn't cover my hair as well. Don't judge me please - I really had no idea :D I just wanted to go inside and admire the interior..

Mosque in Abu Dhabi is so much better and I'm glad that you showed us the interior as well. And some of the details that you said are fascinating. Look at that chandelier! It's the most beautiful chandelier that I've ever seen. And those pillars! I wonder how long it takes to walk around the mosque :)

Your photography is superb! Your night photos are simply amazing! This is a top quality post!! Thank you for sharing! I'm amazed!

I really love your comments! <3 You always have something interesting to say, a lot of goodness flows from your words!

Fortunately, it did not happen to me, but I understand that you may have been scared. In general, it is better not to fall into people in such places :) they treat it very seriously.

When I drove a city bus at some point, the driver stopped literally in the middle of the street, turned on the emergency lights, then announced to passengers that he must leave for some time. Where did he leave? To the mosque :)

Thank you very much for kind words <3 I try to vary something with each trip;)

Best regards!

Awwwww, thank you so much! ❤ It's so sweet of you to say that!

Yes, I've heard that too. It doesn't matter what they do, but when it's time to pray, they go to the mosque.

I was working with people who were based in Middle East countries and I visited a few of their offices there. Each of them have a small carpet there and when it's time to pray, they spread the carpet, kneel down and pray. It doesn't matter that it's during the working hours 😉

As you say, they do take it very seriously..

Have a great rest of the weekend wherever you are at the moment! 😉

Fully deserved <3

I have not seen it outside the mosque yet, for us Europeans are an interesting experience ;)

I am currently in Warsaw. Last week I came back from Rome, I have some material that will probably appear here in a while. I still have not published material from Norway.

All the best for you! We are in touch ;)

Stunning photos! Great job!

Thank you, Daniela!

Hi lashotta,

This post has been upvoted by the Curie community curation project and associated vote trail as exceptional content (human curated and reviewed). Have a great day :)

Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.

Hey, @curie! My pleasure! Thank you very much for stopping by :)

I must see this. Beautiful place. Great photos.

That is true. Amazing place!

Dear @lashotta,

Thank you for the submission for our project – 1001 Places to Remember. Hooray, your story is now listed in our project publication, you can check through our progressive report either from our @fundition project page or @archisteem account. We will be sorting out the seasonal shortlist authors and make an announcement soon for the seasonal reward.

Stay tuned and Steem on!

Sincerely from,

@archisteem and team

Hey, @archisteem. Thanks! Glad to be there again <3

Glad to have you here too! See you around again @lashotta.

I really like the lighting in your photos, somehow they make it look magical and clean and futuristic. Really nice looking :D.
                       
Congratulations for your curie vote :).

For a place of worship, it looks very modern. Probably also because it is relatively new :)

Thanks for the comment, it's great that you came by!

What a wonderful post! I'm completely impressed with the pictures, it is a marvelous and peaceful place. Thanks for making this beautiful post and sharing. It was a pleasure to read and see your pictures and watch the videos.

Hey, @leilanyarevalo, thank you for reading and comment! It is a pure pleasure for me :)

All the best for you!

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