The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque is the main Mosque in the Sultanate of Oman. The Mosque is built from 300,000 tonnes of Indian sandstone. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square (external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 metres) with a central dome rising to a height of fifty metres above the floor. The dome and the main minaret (90 metres) and four flanking minarets (45.5 metres) are the mosque’s chief visual features. The main musalla can hold over 6,500 worshippers, while the women’s musalla can accommodate 750 worshippers. The outer paved ground can hold 8,000 worshippers and there is additional space available in the interior courtyard and the passageways, making a total capacity of up to 20,000 worshippers.
A major feature of the design of the interior is the prayer carpet which covers the floor of the prayer hall. It contains, 1,700,000 knots, weighs 21 tonnes and took four years to produce, and brings together the classical Tabriz, Kashan and Isfahan design traditions. 28 colors in varying shades were used, the majority obtained from traditional vegetable dyes. It is the largest single piece carpet in the world.



The world's largest hand-woven carpet was produced by Iran Carpet Company (ICC) at the order of the Diwan of the Royal Court of Sultanate of Oman to cover the entire floor of the main praying hall of the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (SQGM) in Muscat. The carpet measures over 70 × 60 meters, and covers the 4,343 square meter area of the praying hall, all in a single piece.


Image Courtesy: National Geographic, read more here


This crystal chandelier in the mosque is about 46 feet high (picture a four story building!). It is about 26 feet in diameter, and it comes to a weight of 8.5 tons which is close to 20,000 pounds! The chandelier is made of 600,000 Swarovski crystals, has gold plated metalwork. It contains staircases and platforms, necessary for maintenance, and has 1,200 dimmable halogen lamps triggered by more than 36 switching circuits. Given that the height of the ceiling in the main minaret is 90 metres, this huge chandelier is probably actually the most efficient way of lighting up the entire space!

The Mosque is built on a site occupying 416,000 square metres and the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 square metres. The newly built Grand Mosque was inaugurated by Sultan of Oman on May 4, 2001.