Abu Dhabi People interested in Arabic and Islamic culture can now take in the beauty of the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque (SZGM) in Beijing.
A scale model of the magnificent mosque was offered on May 30 to the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Centre for Arabic Language and Islamic Studies in Beijing.
“The architectural scale model is constructed on a scale of 1:150 and reflects the Islamic artistic features of the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque. It took three months to build it and it is made of acrylic,” Yousuf Al Obaidli, director of the SZGM Centre, told Gulf News.
“This is the second time we offer a model of the mosque. The first one was given to the Malaysian Islamic Art Museum in 2011,” he added.
Al Obaidli explained that the grant was aimed at promoting cultural and intellectual cooperation among Islamic centres and establishments in the world. “We want to bridge communication between peoples through Islamic architecture,” he said.
A set of books published by SZGM Centre were also presented to the centre in China. The gift included a recent publication, ‘Byoot Allah’ (literally translating into Houses of God), which presents a comparative study of renowned mosques.
The Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Centre for Arabic Language and Islamic Studies was inaugurated in Beijing on March 28, 2012.
The centre was established under the instruction of Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1990 to promote the Arabic language and Islamic studies in China and bring Chinese and Arab civilisations closer.
The SZGM Centre is sponsored and monitored by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs under the umbrella of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs. The centre was established to be a hub of cultural and intellectual movements focused around the Grand Mosque.
