The ornate
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is so remarkable, as more than 400,000 devout
believers make the pilgrimage to Abu Dhabi to pray during the annual festival
“Eid”. It is more fascinated to British Photographer Julian John by the
incredible interiors of the biggest mosque in the Middle East. Teaching
assistant Julian, originally from Brighton, Sussex, now living abroad, Julian John visits the
intricately designed prayer halls as often as possible to capture photos of
what he believes to be “the jewel in the United Arab Emirates” crown. He says;
I’m living in the UAE capital for the last four years, is planning an
exhibition of his epic photographs. I truly believe, this mosque is the Jewel
in the United Arab Emirates' crown. It has been easily described as an
exclusive masterpiece of Islamic architecture and is truly a modern wonder of
the world. It is majestic and serene and the attention to detail is
breathtaking with craftsmen from all around the world instrumental in making it
so spectacular.
The mosque
stunning courtyard, which features the largest marble mosaic in the world at
180,000 square feet, snapped the impressive exterior. The four 350-feet tall
minarets, which can be seen across the Abu Dhabi skyline, are lit up in
dramatic style against the cloudy skies in one of the photographer's incredible
shots. Julian, who uses a Nikon D800 camera with Nikon 24-70mm and the Tamron
70-200mm lenses, was deeply inspired to take up his interest four years ago
when he first moved to the Middle East. He has since set up a photography class
at the international school where he works. There’re number of great aspects to
the Grand Mosque from spectacular interiors to domes and minarets and fountains
to the lovely pillars with inlaid flowers. There’re lots of photographic
opportunities that you’re almost spoiled for choice. As long as I live in Abu
Dhabi, and definitely I’ll always visit the Grand Mosque and continue to
photograph it. The magnificent towering structure took almost ten years to
build with over 30,000 workers starting work on the site in 1996. It was not
completed until seven years after the millennium in 2007. The largest mosque in
the Middle East, the Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is as stunning on the inside as
the outside. Source: Dailymail
