The mosque was commissioned by Sultan Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the former president of the United Arab Emirates. He wanted to create a mosque capable of uniting the cultural diversity of different countries of the Islamic world with new values of architecture and art. The work was commissioned to the architect Yusef Abdelki. Construction began in 1996 and was completed in 2007.
The mosque has four minarets 107 meters high and 82 vaults of 7 different sizes. The most important vault has a height of 80 meters and a diameter of 36 m. The complex has 1048 columns on the outside and 96 on the inside. The craftsmanship is of high quality, and the motifs are of Muslim inspiration brought from Morocco, Algeria and Pakistan. For its construction, marble, plaster, wood, semi-precious stones and mosaics were used. The main room has 10 chandeliers, 10 meters long and 9 tons in weight, made of copper and coated with gold and with fine multi-colored rhinestones, made in Germany by the Swarovsky company. The carpet in the main room is, with 5,627 m2, the largest carpet in the world; weighs 47 tons (35 wool and 12 cotton) and has 2,268,000,000 knots. It was crafted by approximately 1,200 Iranian women and designed by artist Ali Khaligli. It has an estimated value of $ 545 million. The patio, with floral decorations, covers approximately 17,000 m² and is considered one of the largest marble mosaics in the world.
© Juan Zas Espinosa