The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

You see it long before you reach it. The mosque stands on raised ground on the outskirts of the city, four minarets and 82 domes clad in white marble, each dome topped with a crescent picked out in gold-glass mosaic. It carries the name of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the country, who meant it as a meeting place for cultures as much as a place of prayer. Work began in 1996, and the prayer halls opened for worship in 2007.

The courtyard comes first, a great open floor of marble that throws the light back at you, and the reflecting pools hold a second copy of the building as the evening comes on. The largest dome sits over the main prayer hall, about 33 metres across and 84 metres high, and it is one of those sizes that only registers once you stand underneath it.

Inside, the whole floor of the main prayer hall is one carpet, and when it was recorded in 2007 it was the largest hand-knotted carpet in the world. About 1,200 artisans made it over roughly two years, in nine pieces that were flown in and stitched together on site. Seven chandeliers hang above it. The largest is twelve metres across and designed as a date palm: the trunk, the fronds, and coloured crystal globes for the fruit.

Sheikh Zayed’s mausoleum is here, and reciters take turns so that the Qur’an is read beside it day and night. Under the Dome of Peace, the Light and Peace Museum, opened at the end of 2024, keeps pages of the Blue Qur’an, an early Islamic gold dinar and some of the founder’s own belongings, with a section built for families.

Time the visit for the end of the day. As the sun drops the marble takes on the colour of the sky, and after dark more than 840 lights pick the building out. Their strength follows the lunar month: shadowy cloud shapes drift over the walls early on, and the light grows as the moon fills out. Across the road, the memorial at Wahat Al Karama, 31 leaning tablets clad in aluminium, is worth the few minutes it takes. On a long layover, the mosque also runs night tours after its regular hours, booked online like a day visit.

It sits well on the same day as Qasr Al Watan and the Corniche: the palace and the fort while the sun is high, the mosque as the light goes.

Good to know

• Book the access pass before you go. We do it with the rest of the itinerary.
• On Fridays the mosque closes to visitors over midday prayers, and Ramadan has its own hours. We check your dates.
• Walk-in guided tours in English and Arabic run every day from the east side of the mosque.
• Photographs for personal use are welcome at the marked photo stops. Professional equipment needs permission.
• No food inside, and water is the only drink allowed.