Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

A gleaming white-marble mosque with 82 domes and four 107 m minarets mirrored in its reflecting pools.

The mosque was launched by Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founding president of the UAE. He died in 2004, before it was finished, and is buried in its courtyard. The building was designed by the Syrian architect Yusef Abdelki and is covered in white marble, with 82 domes, four tall minarets and long pools of water that mirror its arches. It is one of the largest mosques in the world, and visitors can join guided tours, including evening tours that show off its moonlight-inspired lighting.

How big is it?

The mosque is enormous. According to the mosque centre, the whole site can hold about 55,000 worshippers, and the main prayer hall alone holds around 7,800. The 82 domes come in several sizes; the biggest, over the main prayer hall, is about 32 metres wide and rises about 84 metres high. At each corner of the courtyard stands a minaret, a tall slender tower, reaching about 107 metres, which makes the minarets the tallest parts of the building.

What's inside

The floor of the main prayer hall is covered by what Guinness World Records recognised in 2007 as the world's largest hand-knotted carpet. About 1,200 craftspeople spent around two years knotting it by hand in nine pieces, which were then stitched together inside the hall. It covers more than 5,000 square metres and weighs about 35 tonnes. Above it hang seven chandeliers decorated with Swarovski crystals; the largest are about 12 metres across.

Light and water

The mosque is designed to look beautiful at night as well as by day. Its lighting system follows the phases of the moon: soft bluish-grey cloud shapes are projected onto the white walls and grow brighter or dimmer as the moon changes. Shallow reflecting pools run along the arcades, so the columns and lights are mirrored in the water. The outside walls are covered in white marble from North Macedonia, and the courtyard has a giant floral marble mosaic.

On the globe

The model shows a gleaming white-marble mosque with many domes and four tall minarets, mirrored in its reflecting pools. Zoom in on Abu Dhabi to count the domes.