Faisal Mosque

Faisal Mosque

                               

When Turkish
architect Vedat Dalokay‘s
design was chosen for the Faisal Mosque, many raised their eyebrows. The
project differed from traditional mosque architecture, as it featured
contemporary, sleek lines and, most notably, lacked a dome. Construction work
began in 1976 and was finally completed ten years later. By then, most
criticism had crumbled in front of the imposing, captivating building that now
dominates Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital city, from its elevated position at the
foot of the Margalla Hills. The mosque is named after Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz,
the Saudi king who suggested the idea of a national Pakistani mosque, and
largely financed its construction. The 5,000-square-meter prayer hall is an
eight-sided, concrete structure, inspired by the traditional tents of Bedouins,
with a capacity for 100,000 worshippers. It’s surrounded by four 88-metre-high
minarets in perfect one-to-one ratio with the base. They were designed as the
sides of an imaginary cube, in honor of the sacred, cubic Kaaba
found at the centre of Mecca’s most important mosque.