Gulf News reader, Shakthi S. Narayan, took these pictures at Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. “Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque is well known for its diverse Islamic architecture and pure white colour,” the official website says. “White marble clads the external walls and columns and features relief carving of verses from Holy Quran and Islamic ornamentation.”
According to the website, it can hold more than 40,000 worshippers - 10,000 inside the internal area and 30,000 in the external area.
It opened for worship in 2007 after 11 years of construction. Thousands of workers and 38 contractors worked to bring together all the elements of the structure.
This is a popular destination for residents and tourists. In 2013, the Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque saw 4,298,908 unique visitors and worshippers.
The mosque holds daily tours from Sunday to Thursday at 10am, 11am and 5pm, Friday at 5pm and 7pm or on Saturday at 10am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm and 7pm.
