Faisal Mosque

The Shah Faisal Mosque ( Shah Faisal Masjid german, Urdu شاه فيصل مسجد ) is the National Mosque of Pakistan (Pakistan Ke Qaumi Masjid ). It is located in the northwest of the Pakistani capital Islamabad against the Margalla Hills. It was named after King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.

Because of its special architecture and size, the gilded mosque is today the symbol of the city. The end of the 1970s designed and completed in 1986 building offers, along with his court, up to 74,000 worshipers.

History

In 1966, the then King of Saudi Arabia Faisal ibn Abd al - Aziz was on a visit to Islamabad liking to the place, before he could see quite Islamabad, and made the proposal to build a huge mosque.

1969, a competition was held in which architects from 17 countries proposals for the design of future mosque brought in. After four days of consulting the design of the Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay was selected.

The construction of the mosque began in 1976. Costs in the amount of 130 million Saudi Riyals took over the Saudi Arabian government. King Faisal was personally involved in the financing of the mosque. After his assassination in 1975, the mosque and the road leading to it were named after him. The mosque was completed in 1986.

Construction

The mosque, an unusual and very modern design with four minarets, covers an area of 5,000 square meters. The square in elevation prayer hall is modeled on the shape of an Arab Bedouin tent. It reaches a height of 40 meters. The 90-meter tall, slender minarets are based on Ottoman models; they are the highest in the South Asian continent. In the prayer hall find about 10,000 people place in the entrance area of 24,000 and another 40,000 in the courtyard. This makes it one of the largest mosques in the world. The whole complex will also contain space for an Islamic research center, a library, a museum and an auditorium.

The central lighting is provided by a ball of gold anodized aluminum tubes, which carry a light bulb at each end, and a large ring of downlights. The ball is formed by the filament lamps 1000 has a diameter of about 10 m, the "satellite" ring consists of 40 lamps, and has a diameter of approximately 40 meters. Between the lighting is a curtain of gold -colored decorative chains connects the call. This lighting was designed at the time of the German lighting designer John Dinnebier in collaboration with the architect and in 1985 under the direction of K.-M. Jahn realized in Islamabad.