Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Saturday Jan 5th -  Brad, Yvonne, and I abandoned Matt and the 4 kids (3 of whom were sick) and headed to Abu Dhabi for the day.
On the way we passed this cool building that looks like an eggo waffle.

 First stop -the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (and boy oh boy is it Grand)!

 

Picture of the model

 

Seriously, beautiful building,  80 domes, 1,000 columns, 24 carat gold plated chandeliers and the world's largest hand knotted woven carpet, an amazing courtyard.

Out in the courtyard the marble was cut very specifically. The white was cut in to very small squares to help it not heat up so much in the sun, while the colored pieces (which was in large chucks) gets a lot warmer (even very hot) when in the sun. We tested it with our feet and it was amazing the kind of difference there was between the colors. Smart thinking for a place that sees a lot of sun!

Yvonne and I had to wear a sort of abaya. They weren't cool ones like the Muslims wear. We looked like a cross between Jedi Knights and the KKK.

Inside the Mosque was beautifully decorated.

Prayer Clock: Muslims pray 5 times a day this clock shows the prayer times. The second time isn't a prayer time it's the time of  the sunrise

Seriously beautiful detailing

The 99 names of Allah.

We had a good tour guide that I just kept thinking she would make such a great sister missionary. She didn't give us a recent cost but the last update she had heard was as of 2003 the cost of the Mosque was 3.2 billion dirhams (roughly 870 million dollars) with construction still in process.  Sheikh Zayed (First president of the UAE) is buried there.

I was so impressed by this building!

I LOVED these signs.

Headed down to the bathroom

Down in the wash room. You have to wash yourself before you can go pray.

Back of the Mosque. There are doors back here that say VIP entrance. We took a picture by one but the guard came over and made us delete it.