On Saturday, we went to the biggest mosque in Abu Dhabi - actually, it was planned as the world's biggest mosque, but there were objections - shouldn't the world's biggest mosque be in Mecca? So it is a very big mosque, but not the biggest.
It looked big enough.
Outside, there are pools and courtyards in dizzying plenty.
Despite its size, every individual piece is crazily elaborate - here is a column, with mother of pearl inlaid into marble.
Inside, there are six chandeliers, shaped like upside-down date palms.
Most beautiful of all are the walls - embossed flowers on this one. You can't tell in this picture, but I am actually enjoying the flowers. I am not enjoying the outfit, which made me feel like a Goth Little Red Riding Hood.
...fading into a beautiful ceiling, carved with verses from the Quaran, each bit different from the last.
It looked big enough.
Outside, there are pools and courtyards in dizzying plenty.
Despite its size, every individual piece is crazily elaborate - here is a column, with mother of pearl inlaid into marble.
And there are SO MANY columns!
Here is the biggest of the chandeliers - five tons!
The carpet, we learned, was designed to look as if the chandelier were dripping its many colors onto the carpet, patch by patch. The carpet is handmade - it took two years to make in pieces, and was eventually stitched together inside the mosque!
There are acres and acres of carpet - with built-in rows, so that worshipers can arrange themselves into lines.
Most beautiful of all are the walls - embossed flowers on this one. You can't tell in this picture, but I am actually enjoying the flowers. I am not enjoying the outfit, which made me feel like a Goth Little Red Riding Hood.
But the walls. The walls are amazing. Each piece of the wall was beautiful...
...fading into a beautiful ceiling, carved with verses from the Quaran, each bit different from the last.
Here is my favorite wall - intersecting circles, with a few patches made transparent, letting the light in.
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