The Tour of the Grand Mosque

This is looking at the mosque from across the street.

Just a few facts before I share my pictures.  This description is taken from wikipedia.org.  

The Grand Mosque is the largest and the official mosque in the country of Kuwait. Its area spans 45,000 square metres (480,000 sq ft), out of which the building itself covers 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft). The main prayer hall is 72 metres (236 ft) wide on all sides, has 21 teakwood doors, and has lighting provided by 144 windows. The dome of the mosque is 26 metres (85 ft) in diameter and 43 metres (141 ft) high, and is decorated with the Asma al-hosna, the 99 names of God. The mosque can accommodate up to 10,000 men in the main prayer hall, and up to 950 women in the separate hall for women. The mosque also contains a 350 square metres (3,800 sq ft) library of Islamic reference books and documents. To accommodate the large number of vehicles belonging to worshippers, the mosque also contains a 5-level car park underneath the eastern courtyard which can hold up to 550 cars. Construction on the mosque started in 1979, and the mosque was completed in 1986. The Minaret of the grand mosque is located in Northern-West of the mosque, resembles the Anadalusian architeure.

The bottom line is that it is big!!!

The front of the mosque, where we entered the actual grounds of the mosque.

When DP and I first arrived, we were asked to cover ourselves in robes that are provided.  My biggest problem through the whole tour was that my head-covering would not stay up and the material was polyester and thus wouldn't breath...and you guessed it.  I was hot.

All ready for the tour

DP and some of the other ladies awaiting the start of the tour.

 

This particular mosque has only 1 Minaret. 

This is looking across the square to the side of the mosque.  The area that I am standing in can accommodate up 10000 people for prayer.  You may notice wires crossing the pictures.  These are lines that mist the people during the hot days/evenings of Kuwait.

One of the doors that lead into one of the smaller prayer rooms.

This is looking down the corridor along side the actual building.  The door from above, would be on the left hand side.

This is inside the smaller prayer room, looking down to the other end.

The arch in the far wall is the mihrab in the main prayer room at the mosque.  A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying.  Since the main prayer is undergoing renovations, we were only allowed to look into the main prayer room.  It is huge!

This is looking to my left in the main prayer room.

This is one of the chandeliers in the main prayer room.  If memory serves me, there are 4 of them, each weighing one ton.  The are very beautiful.

This is just one panel in the ceiling of the main prayer room.

This is the top of the mihrab in the smaller prayer room.  I couldn't get over the ornateness of the walls, ceilings and just about everything else.

This is a smaller dome just outside the Sheik's diwaniya.  Again, the craftsmanship is spectacular.

This is one part of the ceiling in the Sheik's diwaniya.  The part that looks like it is hanging down,was a style that was created centuries ago to mimic stalactites and stalagmites.  The colour scheme in this room is meant to remind people of the sand and water of Kuwait.  The overall sense of the room is one or calmness. 

The chandelier in the room.

An exact duplicate of the original Koran.  In the front of the book are calligraphy tools.

One of the tiled walls.

This is looking up at the ceiling between the stalagmite/stalactite designs.

Above and below are taken from sections of the ceiling.  It was, I believe, all hand carved.

At the top of one of the tiled portions of the wall.

I can't remember exactly what this is, but I remember that it is written in such a way that the writing is symmetrical.

All in all it was a very enjoyable tour.  As I have mentioned before, the architecture and use of colour makes this a beautiful place of worship.  It is definitely a building that any country would be proud of.