The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi shows that the age of great mosques is far from over. Completed in 2007, it is one of the largest mosques in the world and among the most visited, a modern monument in dazzling white marble that draws on a thousand years of Islamic art and gathers it into a single, luminous whole.
A modern monument
The mosque is named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the United Arab Emirates, who conceived it as a place of worship and a bridge between cultures. Built over more than a decade and opened in 2007, it stands on a raised platform visible from across the capital, and Sheikh Zayed himself is buried in a courtyard beside it. It can hold many tens of thousands of worshippers across its main hall and vast open courtyard.
Craft from around the world
What sets the mosque apart is the ambition of its craftsmanship. Its 82 domes and its forest of columns are clad in gleaming white marble inlaid with semi-precious stones, coloured to form flowing vines and flowers, a technique with deep roots in the Mosque architecture styles around the world of the Mughal world. The reflecting pools that surround it mirror the domes by day and glow with a cool light at night. Inside hang some of the largest chandeliers ever made, and the main prayer hall holds one of the world's largest single hand-knotted carpets, woven by many hundreds of artisans. Craftsmen and materials were drawn from many countries, making the building a deliberate meeting of traditions. Marble came from several quarries, the gilding gleams overhead, and even the floors of the courtyard are inlaid with flowers so that the whole complex reads as one continuous work of art. The effect is not merely rich but calm, an attempt to gather the beauty of the entire Muslim world into a single serene space.
An open door
Sheikh Zayed intended the mosque to welcome the world, and it does. It runs free guided tours and receives visitors of every faith outside prayer times, providing modest dress at the entrance and explaining the meaning of what guests see. In this it revives one of the oldest roles of the great mosque, described in short history of mosques: a public place at the centre of civic life, open to travellers and neighbours alike. If you have never visited a mosque, our guide to Visiting a mosque prepares you for the experience.
Old traditions, new forms
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is best understood in company. Its inlaid marble and pointed arches look back to the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore and the wider Mughal legacy, while its scale and civic ambition echo the imperial mosques of Istanbul such as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque), Istanbul. All of them belong together in our pillar on Great mosques of the world, and any unfamiliar terms are explained in the Glossary.
Visiting
Entry is free, and the mosque is one of the most welcoming great mosques anywhere for non-Muslim visitors, especially beautiful at dusk when the marble shifts colour. To find mosques and Muslim-life places wherever your travels take you, browse the find mosques directory or open the the interactive map.