The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Muscat

"Religion. It's given people hope in a world torn apart by religion"  Jon Stewart

What a paradox! 

Since ages religion has had an impact on our buildings. Architecture has always been deeply rooted in a country's history, culture and religion. Just as in India, temple architecture reflects a synthesis of arts, the values and beliefs of Hinduism, in Oman there are several cultural buildings that embody the spirit of Islamic Architecture reflecting its religious beliefs and values.

The Mosque that I am writing about here is the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque located in Al Ghubra, Muscat. It is a beautiful example of Islamic architecture and is a gift to Oman from Sultan Qaboos to mark the 30th year of his reign. The Mosque building is actually a confluence of Ottoman, Islamic, Indian Moghul, Persian and traditional Omani architecture.

The Sultan Qaboos Mosque, Muscat - as viewed from the main road;
 Hand rendered in pen and water-soluble pencil colors

The scale and aesthetic qualities of the mosque impressed us as it appeared right along the Sultan Qaboos street. The mosque complex is built on an elevated platform keeping in mind the Omani traditions of the mosque. The undulating parapet surrounding the dome structure reminded me of the forts of Oman.

Wasn't dressed conservatively  

This is the largest mosque in the Gulf and the only mosque open to non-Muslims. A visit to this mosque is a must they say if you come to Oman. So when my parents visited me in 2011, this place was a sure target. Unfortunately, women have to be dressed from top to toe to be allowed to enter in. Since we ladies weren't dressed conservatively (women must cover their hair, wear a full sleeved dress) for the mosque, we waited in the gardens while the gents explored the entire mosque. Also, children under 10 years aren't allowed to enter. So there I was standing (disappointed at not being allowed to step further) with my daughter who was barely 3 years old then in 2011.

This mosque was first opened in 2001 and took six years to build. It is within a walled compound with a minaret at each corner plus a fifth larger minaret halfway along the northern wall. The main minaret is 91.5 m high while the other four minarets are 45 m high. There are two prayer halls which can accommodate an estimated 20,000 worshippers.

The garden pavilion courtyard

The mosque is built in contemporary Islamic style, clad in white and red-brown marble. The minarets are in traditional Egyptian architecture while the decorations have Omani and Persian influences. Entrance to the mosque is from its eastern side, through the spacious gardens bisected by water channels. We spent an hour in these gardens since we weren't allowed any further.

The Lush greens surrounding the mosque
(Look who is peeping out there!)

The mosque has four main sections; the main prayer hall, the women's prayer hall, the library and the lecture theatre. It is built on a plot area of 416,000 sq m while the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 square metres. The male members of our family went to the main prayer hall and were amazed to find the entire hall with a carpet covering that measured 60mx70m. The carpet is the world's second largest and it took 600 female weavers from Iran, who made in four years. (Isn't that worth laudable!)

Note the niche detailing at the exterior of a hall
(Sketching in HB pencil)

There is a huge 14 metre tall Swarovski crystal chandelier (8.0 m in diameter) in the centre of the hall. The stained glass windows are from France, interior walls are panelled in grey and white marble with the Quran scriptures written on the walls.The central dome rises to a height of 50m from above the floor of the main prayer hall. 

Unfortunately, the male members of our family were so dazed by the grand interior view that they simply forgot to take any clicks of the interior!

The Dome - couldn't resist sketching it
(in pen and water soluble pencil colors)

The Dome looks like an embossment in gold and veiled with a concrete lattice with gold mosaics. (The dome is simply beautiful and must be viewed at night time to catch the play of light.) I like the way every mosque has the crescent shaped moon in its finial. 

The courtyards tiled in cream marble

The inner courtyard is tiled in cream marble complementing the white sandstone of the Prayer hall exteriors. The external hallways around the buildings and courtyard are lined by open arches, bronze lanterns with stained-glass panels hanging between the arches. An elaborately carved timber door opens to the vast prayer hall. 

The bronze lanterns in the arcade

The intricately carved huge timber door 
(With my daughter standing there imagine the scale of the doorway)

The arched wooden doors of the prayer hall

The arcaded entrance porch near one of the courtyards
(Sketching in HB pencil)

Vaulted archways of the corridors-
Note the reflection of the arcade on the floor

The Riwaqs are the arcades that form transitional space between the site and the complex and these corridors are made of vaulted archways. A profusion of arches sprawled all over the mosque complex, gave me ample opportunity to study them. Most of the arches are pointed arches (Persian influence) here while some also have Byzantine influences.

This trip of mine remained somewhat incomplete since I couldn't view the interiors of the mosque. However, while researching for this mosque I stumbled upon a website recently started by Diwan of Royal Court in Muscat. It offers online 360-degree panoramic views of the entire grand mosque complex. This shows every corner of the mosque in detail and satisfied nearly all my curiosities regarding the interior of a mosque. However, I am hoping to make a second trip to personally view the Swarovski crystal chandelier and the seamless hand woven Persian carpet. (For more details refer: http://sultanqaboosgrandmosque.com)

Some interesting facts about Grand Mosque that I learnt while writing this blog :

• It is built from 300,000 tones of Indian sandstone
• The carpet weighs 21 tons. It has 28 colors in varying shades and majority were from traditional vegetable dyes
• The chandelier was manufactured by company Faustiig in Germany
• The Architects are Mohammad Saleh Makiya(Iraq) and Quad Design of London in Muscat
• Sculpting of sandstone was done by 60 craftsmen in Muscat and 200 in India.
• Some of the designs of these sculptures were inspired by those in the Taj Mahal.
• For those interested in the cost of mosque; well it cost nearly 80 million USD to build it.

other sources referred:

www.omantourism.gov.om

www.lonelyplanet.com

www.omantripper.com

www.muscatdaily.com