The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi is a living gallery of Islamic art and one of the world’s most visually striking religious buildings.
Commissioned by the UAE’s founding president, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the mosque was conceived not only for prayer, but also to gather the artistic traditions of the wider Islamic world and to represent unity through art. This is what really stood out to me: the amount of Islamic art to be discovered all over this huge mosque.
I had published this other photo of the mosque’s exterior, but this is a building that deserves a dozen posts at least. For now, let’s start with the intricate, unique and monumental interior.
Calligraphy and Arabesque at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
I really enjoyed this piece in the photo, maybe because I’ve always liked Arabic calligraphy, like in the Museum of the Future in Dubai. There’s something in it that really speaks to me, and I find it so fascinating and beautiful.
Arabic calligraphy is the mosque’s most persistent visual language, and the most striking example covers the Qibla wall with the 99 names of Allah. And here, having this deep blue with the pristine white calligraphy standing out on the white marble was a detail that I just felt I had to photograph.
All over the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, ornament works alongside calligraphy in the form of floral patterns, plasterwork frames and mosaics. Together, they form what is often called arabesque: a decorative system built on geometry, repetition, and the endless unfurling of natural forms.
Photographing the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
I would not dare tell you what to photograph at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, because I think this is rather a very intuitive and personal journey. However, I can tell you that there are several qualities that are worth deliberately seeking out.
- The first one is symmetry. The mosque was laid out to be viewed along central axes, so the strongest images usually come from standing in the center rather than at an angle. Vivid examples are the impressive reflecting pools mirroring the archways.
- Another one is illumination. Light changes the building’s character across the day and after dark. The mosque’s exterior lighting system is synchronized to the lunar cycle, and I got to capture this unique illumination in this photo of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque facade.
- Finally: details. Wide shots convey scale, but the mosque’s artistry lives in its details. Marble elements from all over the world, chandeliers adorned with millions of Swarovski crystals, Arabesque calligraphy, the biggest hand-knotted carpet in the world, these shots often make a more memorable image than the full building.
If you are looking for more mosque photography and Islamic art inspiration, check out this photo of the State Mosque in Qatar, or this one of the Selimiye Mosque in Cyprus.
