The mosque itself is enormous and pretty much defies description. This is a closer view of the area in the previous picture, showing some of the beautiful decoration on the walls. It’s is only s small part of the mosque hall – I didn’t really take any pictures in the other direction (not sure why now, just focused more on details elsewhere) so am posting three images of various views of this section. They’re similar yet different, and I can’t make up my mind on just one of them!

The Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque can accommodate up to 40,000 worshippers, has four minarets, more than 80 domes and 1,000 pillars holding it all up. The interior has elements from Turkey, Morocco and the Taj Mahal exhibited in marble, gold, semi-precious stones, crystals and ceramics. It hosts the world’s largest Persian carpet, which took 2.000 artisans two years to complete and seven gold-plated crystal chandeliers. (Summary from Lonely Planet’s “Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula”)