Google Offers Virtual Tour of Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, inaugurated a 360-degree street view imagery project creating a virtual tour enabling internet users to explore the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque through Google Street View.

The new 360-degree guide, part of a Google initiative that aims to capture every famous landmark on earth to be viewed online, steps inside the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque and provides close-up views and minute details of the inside and outside of edifice, the UAE's largest mosque, and also one of the world's largest.

In his remarks at the launch ceremony of the virtual tour,  Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed praised the initiative for enabling internet users to view the structure of the world's most beautiful mosques which represents a valuable addition to the Islamic and human cultures.  

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque has the capacity for 40,000 worshippers. It features 82 domes, over a 1,000 columns, 24 carat gold gilded chandeliers and the world's largest hand knotted carpet. The main prayer hall is dominated by one of the world's largest chandeliers -10 metres in diameter, 15 metres in height and weighing twelve tonnes.
In 2012 alone, the mosque attracted some 4.7 million visitors from across the world and ranked 13th in TripAdvisor's 2013 Travellers' Choice Awards.