Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Happy New Year to everyone! We do hope that you all had a blast celebrating Christmas & New Year, ours were just simple celebrations at home with good friends, but they were full of laughter and good memories.

It felt like ages since we last posted something here, and quite honestly, since we've neglected this photoblog for far too long, it felt quite uncomfortable even just to log in to Blogger.. lol... (we won't bore you with lengthy excuses because the reason for our absence is quite plain:  the demands of the offline world simply overtook us). A lot has happened these past few months while we were away from the blogworld and with these activities which kept us busy, photos-- really good ones were piling up, and it would be such a waste not to be able to share them, and a lot of our friends also have missed this photoblog. So here we are... staging a major comeback and making our presence felt again, so to speak.

For (2010) starters, allow us to share with you a series of photos we took during a recent visit to our neighbor city - Abu Dhabi. We're showcasing Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque which is absolutely breath-taking. Take a read on some of the facts HERE about this grand architecture and you'll be blown away. (Click on photos to enlarge).

 

 

 

 

 

the marble panels even have semi-precious stones

 

the columns have very intricate design, took a shot while art was walking in front of me

stunning craftsmanship on the marble wall, all women are required to wear the abaya (black national dress) before entering the mosque, so mariz had no choice...lol...

 

get ready for this shocker -- the mosque features seven 24-carat gold-plated chandeliers which were imported from Germany, all designed with thousands of Swarovski crystals. the largest of these chandeliers, which hangs from the main dome of the Mosque is considered the biggest in the world

 

the prayer halls and the mosque’s interior walls have decorative 24 carat gold-glass mosaic features

ablution area with beautiful skylight

Hope you enjoyed our first post for the year. We wish you all more blessings and abounding favor for 2010. Keep that camera clicking! Cheers!