The colonnades on the perimeter of the mosque and courtyard were just lovely. Here, a guard waits for tourists trying to get into the mosque without first going through the visitors’ center. I have a capture of a similar view without people that I may post later, but I liked the reflections and angle here, and the men do give it some scale.

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”)