Today was another orientation day, and we headed out this morning en masse to take a tour of the Sheikh bin Zayed Grand Mosque. It certainly is grand.
The women stopped to put on the provided abaya (long robe) and shayla (head scarf) before heading inside. We had a tour of the interior courtyard before heading inside.
Here are some quick facts that we learned today:
--The mosque opened in 2007 and took 12 years to complete.
--It is large enough to accomodate 40,000 worshippers.
--The carpets were made in large pieces and then sewn together inside the mosque to create a one-piece carpet.
--Wool for the carpets came from New Zealand, wall hangings from Turkey (Ottoman Empire), marble from Brazil, Italy, and Macedonia, and Swarovski crystals from Germany.
--The flowers that decorate the interior columns are all in-laid with mother-of-pearl.
--The floral designs are made of precious stones, including diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires and pearls.
--The mosque has 82 domes of 7 different sizes and were made by Moroccans.
After our tour of the mosque, we had a Q & A session with a number of Emirati men and women who were kind enough to answer our questions. Someone asked about the color of national dress for women and why black is the choice color. She responded that many years ago (before the average Emirati was worth $17 million, I’m assuming), black was the cheapest color to dye clothing, and that it does not attract attention, and covers interior clothing well. She then confessed that she was wearing pajamas underneath her abaya! She looked extremely elegant and you would never have known.
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