Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque - Abu Dhabi
First published in 2018
Abu Dhabi is the not so well-known sister of Dubai, even it's the by far biggest of the emirates and capital of the UAE. I had just a few hours to spare and the decision what to see was easy: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.
The mosque is open to the public as long as you dress properly. Especially for woman who don't wear proper clothing there is an option to get the requested dressing at the entrance gate.
There are areas where only females can proceed and to walk across the praying hall you have to be Muslim, but for the biggest part of the area they don't make a difference. As I was there on a Friday, the mosque was closed for visitors until the late afternoon (check their homepage for the different visiting times).
After passing the security-check you enter the garden. Already from the outside you can take some nice pictures of the mosque, but due to the sheer size and the limited distance it will be hard to cover the full building.
Before you can enter the building itself, you have to take off your shoes and place them in one of the racks provided at the east side of the building.
The first thing you realize when you enter the hall are the beautiful intarsia. They are not only covering the pillars and part of the walls, they are also on the floors.
Taking pictures is a little bit challenging and you need to be patient to get a free shot.
The inner courtyard though is usually not accessible and that helps to take pictures of the main building with its minarets and domes.
Only later in the evening some women crossed the courtyard to get to the female praying hall. But photographically this was more a benefit than an obstacle.
The main praying hall is huge and can hold 7000 men (plus another 1000 women in a separate female area. As a visitor you have to take a special entrance that leads you to a gated area at the side of the hall. At the beginning it's a little bit crowded, but as you move along you'll find that there's more than enough space for everyone.
What immediately catches the attention of everyone are the huge chandeliers. The biggest one is said to be the third biggest in the world. By the way: They are from a German company and incorporate millions of Swarovski crystals. But don't focus on the chandeliers only - the walls and pillars are beautifully decorated as well.
You leave the hall at the south side and it's worth to take a final look as from here you have the best impression of how huge the hall is.
When I finished my initial round, sunset was approaching, and I went back to the garden to get some shots during the blue hour. They started to illuminate the mosque soon and with all the lights the mosque got even more interesting.
All in all, I was there for more than two hours, before I left the building and took one of the many taxis back to the hotel.
