Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

For other uses, see Sultan Qaboos Mosque.
Sultan Qaboos Grand Masjid
Jāmiʿ As-Sulṭān Qābūs Al-Akbar (جَامِع ٱلسُّلْطَان قَابُوْس ٱلْأَكْبَر)
Religion
AffiliationIslam
RegionEastern Arabia
DeityAllah (God)
StatusActive
Location
LocationMuscat
StateMuscat
CountryOman
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is located in Oman
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Location in Muscat, Oman
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is located in Middle East
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (Middle East)
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is located in West and Central Asia
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (West and Central Asia)
Geographic coordinates23°35′02″N 58°23′21″E / 23.58389°N 58.38917°E / 23.58389; 58.38917
Architecture
Architect(s)Edgard Bali (interior)
Quad Design with Mohamed Makiya (exterior)
StyleContemporary Islamic
CompletedMay 2001
Specifications
Capacity25,000
Minaret(s)5

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (Arabic: جَامِع ٱلسُّلْطَان قَابُوْس ٱلْأَكْبَر‎, romanized: Jāmiʿ As-Sulṭān Qābūs Al-Akbar)[1] is the largest mosque in Oman, located in the capital city of Muscat.[2]

Construction

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In 1992, the then Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said Al Said, directed that his country should have a Grand Mosque. In 1993, a competition for the design of the proposed mosque took place. The building contract was awarded to Carillion Alawi LLC.[3] Construction commenced in December 1994, after a site was chosen at Bausher, and it took six years and seven months to build the mosque.[4]

The mosque is made of different type of stones, with doors, windows and embellishments made of wood and glass. Around 300,000 tons of Indian sandstone was imported for the building. Five minarets have been built around the premises of the mosque: the main minaret (90 metres (300 ft)) in height, and the four flanking minarets (45.5 metres (149 ft)) are the mosque’s chief visual features from the exterior. In the interior, the main musalla is the focus of both prayer and tourism. The prayer hall is square in shape and 74.4 by 74.4 metres (244 by 244 feet) has a central dome rising to a height of 50 metres (160 ft) above the floor.[5] The dome is embellished spectacularly from the inside and it is a major tourist attraction in itself. The main musalla can hold over 6500 worshippers, while the women's musalla can accommodate 750 worshipers. The outer paved ground can hold 8000 worshipers and there is additional space available in the interior courtyard and the passageways, making a total capacity of up to 20,000 worshipers.[6]

The mosque is built on a site occupying 416,000 m2 (4,480,000 sq ft),[5] and the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 m2 (430,000 sq ft). The newly built Grand Mosque was inaugurated by Sultan of Oman on May 4, 2001 to celebrate 30 years of his reign.[7]

Interior

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The chandelier in the praying hall

A major feature of the design of the interior is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1,700,000,000 knots, weighs 21 tonnes and took four years to produce with over 6000 workers and handmade , and brings together the classical Persian Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions. 28 colors in varying shades were used, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It used to be the largest single-piece carpet in the world, but is now the second[8] after the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, the UAE.[9] This hand-woven carpet was produced by Iran Carpet Company (ICC) at the order of the Diwan of the Royal Court of Sultanate. The carpet measures over 70 by 60 metres (230 by 200 feet), and covers the 4,343 m2 (46,750 sq ft) area of the praying hall.

The chandelier above the praying hall is 14 metres (46 feet) tall and was manufactured by the Italian company Faustig. Since the mosque is 90 metres (300 feet) high, the chandelier looks proportional, but it used to be the world's largest chandelier,[8] before again being replaced in this respect by the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi.[10] It weighs 8.5 tons, includes 600,000 crystals, 1,122 halogen bulbs complete with a dimming system, and includes a staircase for maintenance within the chandelier. Thirty-four smaller chandeliers of the same design are hung in other parts of the building.[11]

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  • View of the minaret from the entrance
    View of the minaret from the entrance
  • The mihrab
    The mihrab
  • The chandelier in the main prayer hall
    The chandelier in the main prayer hall
  • Corridor
    Corridor
  • Carpet
    Carpet
  • Electric lighting
    Electric lighting
  • Window design
    Window design
  • Detail of the inner dome
    Detail of the inner dome

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Official site from the Ministry of Tourism
  2. ^ "PM Narendra Modi visits Oman's Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque - Know its India connection". Muscat: Times Now. 2018-02-12. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  3. ^ "Oman Green Awards picks Carillion as 'Green Guardian'". Oman Information Center. June 25, 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  4. ^ "Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque". Carillion. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque". Sultanate of Oman. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  6. ^ "A photo journey of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque". GulfNews. April 25, 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  7. ^ Rayner, Gordon (20 November 2014). "Watch: Prince Harry given tour of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque in Muscat". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 November 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  8. ^ a b Batra, Ashish (2018-08-10). "Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat: An Iconic Architectural Wonder". Worldarchitecture.org. Retrieved 2019-01-21.
  9. ^ "Iran weaves world's largest carpet". Web India 123. 2007-07-28.
  10. ^ "World Record 2007 – Abu Dhabi". Faustig (in German). Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  11. ^ Classical chandeliers in the World
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