The Sultan Qaboos grand mosque Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is a new large Mosque erected from 1995 to 2001 in the center of Masqat. The surface of the mosque is 40 000m².

A major feature of the main prayer hall is the hand-made Persian carpet consisting of 1700 million knots, weighing 21 tonnes and made in a single piece measuring 70 x 60 metres. From design stage it took 4 years complete and 600 female weavers from province of Khurasan in Iran were involved.

As a relatively new mosque I was tempted to compare it to the Casablanca mosque I visited last year. From the outside, it may look similar and convey the same aspects.

Inside though, I felt far more comfortable with its decoration, marbles, wooden panels, richely decorated ceilings, beautiful carpets, amazing Swarovski crystal chandeliers with gold-plated metalwork hangs (the longest is 14m high). I felt it was full of space but also of spirit whereas the Casablanca was tasteless to me as if it was too modern, too new.

lilimih33, jalab_temen trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

Leonidas2008 (0) 2008-04-03 12:09

Great piece of architecture. Excellent sharpness and realization. Nothing to claim here.
Wish I could see it live.
Leonidas

jackart (5612) 2008-04-03 12:49

Hello Steven!

What a wonderfull place! what an amazing architecture! Great harmony of shapes and great clarity of Your shot! I like it a lot. Well done!

regards
Jacek

smarcell (14613) 2008-04-03 13:25

Shiny and bright. A very good perspective, with the wide angle pov.
An architecture so different from the european standards.
Interesting and nice
Stefano

lilimih33 (9874) 2008-04-03 14:40

Hello Steven!
What a nice palce and what a beautiful composition!
Nice point of view and perfect detail and clarity!
Excellent done!
Best regards!
Lili

jmdias (19753) 2008-04-04 7:57

steven

it is a very nice pov, the light is perfect and the subject is marvelous too. I liked this compo very much but I think a little of the lower area could have been cut off, concentrating attention in the minaret itself

hugs

jorge

brandstaetter (14354) 2008-04-04 14:10

wow what a floor, thanks Steven for the note also...
Excellent exposure in difficult (white) surroundings.
Cheers Chris

Stepan (27175) 2008-04-16 23:52

Elle est géniale cette mosquée et ta compo exprime bien la majesté et la classe de l'endroit. Tout comme sa géométrie d'ailleurs. J'aurais peut être juste un peu croppé l'avant-plan qui est un peu "vide". Je n'avais pas pensé à l'analogie avec Casablanca, mais c'est juste. Et moi aussi, je préfere aussi celle de Mascate.
Stéphane

francio64 (11608) 2008-06-11 15:07

Magnifico POV, ottimo contrasto, perfetta definizione, magnifici colori, cosa devo dire di più?

Francesco

tcgt1979 (153) 2008-09-05 7:26