GREAT SHEIKH ZAYED MOSQUE

After a long walk in the underground maze, welcome to the majestic mosque! Similar to a Taj Mahal with immaculate white, this monument is a must see, because it is breathtakingly beautiful, whether you are Muslim or not! It is a mirror of the moon. The famous Jonathan Speirs, master of the lights of St. Paul's Cathedral in London and so many other world landmarks, worked for two years to design a software capable of modulating 19,000 spots according to the phases of our dear satellite. Thus the mosque is adorned with white ether mixed with shaded artifices reproducing the clouds at the time of the full moon and, following the shrinking of the crescent, it bluish gently over the course of this chromatic breath. Commissioned by Sheikh Zayed, its principal architect buried on the spot, the building clad in Sivec marble - the immaculate material used for Diocletian's palace in Split - has 82 domes and four minarets launched at 107 m. A structure of 22,412 square meters, or five soccer fields, designed according to Moroccan plans, built in 2003 by the British company Halcrow and decorated by the Milanese company Spatium, for whom the roadmap was simple: make it beautiful! This objective was achieved, leaving us speechless in front of this alliance of curves and lines, in gigantic and yet graceful volumes. 32,000 worshippers can fit inside the compound outside and in the side rooms, while 9,000 enter the great prayer hall decorated with the largest carpet in the world, a Mechhed of two and a half million knots signed by Ali Khaliqi. Look up, because here are the million Swarovski crystals of the 9-ton chandelier, the largest ever created. During the visit, following Terminale, a passionate French-speaking guide, we approach other treasures such as the columns decorated with semi-precious stones (agate, amethyst, lapis lazuli), the glass walls veined with colors, the Turkish mosaics. A message received at the end of a cultural experience lived without separating men from women, and discreetly wanted by the authorities as a moment of cultural discovery: the Islam of the Emirates is tolerant, benevolent and full of life. A research library related to the culture of the Muslim worlds is accessible to all in the underground passage of the return. Schedules and conditions of visits change frequently so a visit on the web beforehand is recommended.