25 Beautiful Mosques Worldwide

Image via Complex Original

Al Irsyad Mosque

Year Built: 2010

Location: Kota Baru Parahyangan, Padalarang, Jawa Barat, Indonesia

This mosque by M. Ridwan Kamil draws on the tradition of using Islamic calligraphy as both decoration and a light source, as the writing is made up of windows, to create a graphic, modern interpretation of the mosque. Light becomes the decorative medium here, with bars of light streaming in and the writing illuminating an entire wall with the words of the Qu'ran.

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The Hassaan II Mosque

Year Built: 1993

Location: Casablanca, Morocco

The Hassaan II Mosque of Casablanca boasts the tallest minaret in the world at 240' tall. The mosque sits largely on reclaimed land on the coast of the Atlantic ocean, and at night, a spotlight shines from the top of the minaret in the direction of Mecca.

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Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque

Year Built: 1974

Location: Selangor, Malaysia

This Malaysian mosque, commissioned by the Sultan of its namesake, has the second tallest minarets in the world at 142' tall. The mosque was commissioned to commemorate the dedication of Shah Alam as the new capital of Selangor, Mayasia, in 1974.

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The Floating Mosque

Year Built: 1995

Location: Kuala Ibai Lagoon, Malaysia 

This Malaysian mosque is almost its own island, as it encompasses around 5 acres, can hold about 2,000 people at one time, and tranquilly sits on the Kuala Ibai Lagoon. Its architecture recalls Moorish influences.

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Al Azhar Mosque

Year Built: 972

Location: Cairo, Egypt

This building is an architectural pastiche. It has been added onto slowly and slowly over the years, creating a more eclectic feel to the design, with special attention paid to the minarets.

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Bhong Mosque

Year Built: 1982

Location: Bhong, Pakistan

This mosque in Pakistan by Sardar Rais Ghazi Mohammad Indhar, who designed and funded the entire project, explodes with color and gold. It was designed to the be crown jewel of a plot of land that the designer owned, and in 1986 it won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

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The Mosque of Damascus

Year Built: 1590

Location: Damascus, Syria

The Mosque of Damascus paved the way for many payer spaces supported by a series of columns, also known as "hypostyle halls". It is embedded in a thoroughly Byzantine context, and the decorative scheme of mosaics and tile work reflect the desire to incorporate the cultural surroundings into the mosque's design.

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Islamic Cultural Center of New York

Year Built: 1991

Location: New York, NY

This mosque on the upper east side of Manhattan was a collaborative effort from many patrons to create a space that represents American Islam. Its facade connects itself to the Persian architectural tradition through its use of brick and blue tile, yet its thoroughly modern design plants it in the architectural scheme of New York City.

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Al Aqmar Mosque

Year Built: 1125

Location: Cairo, Egypt

This mosque in Cairo does city living well. It does not have much space to work in, so it packs the facade full of ornamentation and impact, while downsizing the courtyard and moving it to the back.

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Jama Masjid

Year Built: 1656

Location: Delhi, India

The red and white color scheme of the facade of this mosque in Delhi, combined with the triple onion dome on the prayer hall, show characteristic aspects of Indian mosque architecture. The courtyard of this congregational mosque can hold up to 25,000 people.

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The Badshahi Mosque, or Royal Mosque

Year Built: 1671

Location: Lahore, Pakistan

At nearly 528' square, the Badshadhi Mosque has the largest courtyard of any mosque in the world (that of the Taj Mahal is 186' squared). Its size and grandeur epitomizes the time during which it was built: the Mughal era in Pakistan's history.

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Al Nileen Mosque

Year Built: 1976

Location: Omdurman, Sudan

This mosque in Sudan takes the iconic shape of a dome perforated with windows, something first seen in the Hagia Sophia, an brings it thoroughly into the 20th century. The dome becomes a geometric hemisphere with a stylized minaret and pointed windows, which allow for sweeping views of the surrounding land.

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Sheikh Lotf Allah Mosque

Year Built: 1618

Location: Isfahan, Iran

The designs on the glazed brick facade swirl and gleam in the sunlight, bouncing off of the angular architecture of the entrance. The dome is slightly offset from the entrance in order to denote where the mihrab, or point of prayer, is located.

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Masjid al-Haram, or The Grand Mosque

Year Built: ongoing

Location: Mecca

At the heart of The Grand Mosque in Mecca lies the Ka'aba, or the house that Abraham built. The current structure covers 88.2 acres of land, and it is under another expansion project slated to finish in 2020. The structure can accommodate up to 4 million worshippers during the Hajj period, which constitutes one of the largest gatherings in the world.

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The Mosque of Samaraqand

Year Built: 1404

Location: Samaraqand, Uzbekistan

The facade of this mosque, also known as the Bibi-Khonym mosque, uses colored brick to construct ornate designs of calligraphy and flora. The original mosque quickly fell into disrepair, crumbled, and was destroyed by an earthquake. In the early 20th century, the government of the former USSR restored the building to what it is today.

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The Imam Mosque, Isfahan

Year Built: 1629

Location: Isfahan, Iran

The Imam Mosque in Isfahan stuns through its tiled exterior. Its iwans (that's what those large entrances are called) and domes are covered in beautiful, hand-painted tile.

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The Mosque of Ibn Tulun

Year Built: 879

Location: Cairo, Egypt

The mosque, situated in Cairo, represents the importation of Samarran style to Egypt. Its stucco covered exterior is impactful through its lack of ornamentation. Its facade is sleek and artistically calm.

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The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque

Year Built: 2007

Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE

This mosque is a project of the late President of the United Arab Emirates, HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who is entombed on its grounds. Utilizing artisans and materials from all over the world, the mosque hopes to unite the world. Although a firmly modern construction, its layout and aspects of building style, such as the domes, recall storied mosques of the past.

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The Faisal Mosque

Year Built: 1986

Location: Islamabad, Pakistan

The Faisal mosque is the work of Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay, and stands as the largest mosque in Pakistan, and one of the largest mosques in the world. Its design allows for an unbroken prayer hall flooded with light. The large, circular chandelier recalls lighting systems that one typically finds in traditional mosques of the past, and the designs on the carpet subtly direct prayer towards Mecca.

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The Blue Mosque

Year Built: 1616

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

The shape of this mosque directly references the Haghia Sophia, but it seeks to impress through its size. Domes are built upon domes, with windows galore to provide a miraculously lit, cavernous prayer space inside.

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The Great Mosque of Samarra

Year Built: 848 to 851

Location: Samarra, Iraq

The Great Mosque of Samarra, which is now largely in ruin, save its spiraling minaret, was once the largest mosque in the world. Its stucco designs represented early Islamic forms of decoration and influenced many mosques in the surrounding area.

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Mosque of Balkh

Year Built: Mid 9th century

Location: Balkh, Afghanistan

Although it's now in ruins, the decorative scheme on the mosque's walls is still intact. An ornamental skin is laid on top of the brick structure, which started a new trend of surface interest in the Persian building tradition.

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The Dome of the Rock

Year Built: 689 to 691

Location: Jerusalem

While it may not be a mosque, The Dome of the Rock holds incredible Islamic significance as the building which contains the rock from which Muhammad ascended to heaven.

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Hagia Sophia

Year Built: 532 to 537

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

The Hagia Sophia, which originally was a church, became a mosque after Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. It is famous for its dome, which has multiple windows around its base to let sunlight stream in and make the dome appear to float overheard.

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The Great Mosque of Cordoba

Year Built: 784 to 1236

Location: Cordoba, Andalusía, Spain

The Great Mosque of Cordoba is perhaps most famous for its hypostyle hall, with layers of arches in varying bands of stone that almost spring out of columns. After a very long building process under many different rulers, the mosque ultimately became a Roman Catholic Church during the Spanish Reconquista, which explains the church-like structure, which rises out of the original mosque.

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