Visiting the Grand Mosque of Muscat

My friend Wanda and I visited the Grand Mosque last week. It is elegant and beautifully appointed. 

Corner gate 

Men's Entrance; closed at the time we arrived.

Then, we had to cover ourselves before entering.

The dome of the Grand Mosque is in the background. The
dome is over the main Men's Prayer room, or musalla.

Removing your shoes is required before entering the prayer rooms.

Wanda

Me

So, you see us here removing our shoes and placing them in the bins. There are lots and lots and lots of bins!

We visited the Ladies' Prayer Room first. 

Visitors are allowed except during services. The blue carpeting is
where you are allowed to walk when visiting.  It's a beautiful room!

One of the stained glass windows up-close.

There were many panels of intricately carved wood all around the room.

After visiting the Ladies' Prayer Room, we walked around through the outer courtyard to the Men's Prayer Room. The gardens were gorgeous, as was all the marble work.

You'll notice the arches on the left. It is like a long, covered hallway. Niches such as the ones below line the entire length of the hallway.

The tile work is exquisite!

The view looking out from the long hallway towards the Ladies' Prayer Room.

View from the hallway to the entrance (ahead and to the left) of the Men's Prayer Room.

The Men's Prayer Room can hold over 6,500 worshippers. The carpet took 4 years to weave and was transported by plane to the mosque and then pieced together inside the musalla. The chandeliers are made of Swarovsky crystal, the large one inside the dome being the second largest crystal chandelier in the world!

Chandelier in the dome.

Just one half of the room. Note how small the people in the distance are to help give perspective on the size of the room!

One example of the tile work adorning the walls. The reason you see so much tile, mosaics, and woodwork carvings is that human images are forbidden inside a mosque. They have for centuries used these d=type of designs to adorn their places of worship.

Yet another view of the dome.

These are just a few of the pictures we took. I hope you enjoyed this small tour of the Grand Mosque. It was certainly an interesting tour!