Today, Friday, the Nur Sultan Mosque opened in the capital of Kazakhstan, which is considered the largest of its kind in Central Asia, and it sparkles from afar with its blue colors, bright domes and towering minarets.
The opening ceremony was held with the participation of the founding President Nursultan Nazarbayev, religious officials from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia and Egypt, in addition to ambassadors of Islamic countries in Kazakhstan and many media representatives.
Nazarbayev said, in a speech during the ceremony, that the mosque was built for the sake of God Almighty, who enabled his country to extend its sovereignty over its lands during the independence period.
He added that the opening of the mosque for worship is an important event not only for the capital and our country, but for the entire Islamic world.
For his part, the CEO of the Turkish Simbol Construction Company, Ali Taminca, said that they started the construction of the mosque in 2019, and continued construction work without stopping despite the difficulties caused by the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, adding that the mosque was designed by Turkish architects and from other countries in the Middle East.
The mosque is distinguished by its design that combines Islamic architecture with traditional Kazakh motifs. It was built on an area of approximately 68 thousand square meters. It is the largest mosque in the Central Asian region.
The Nur Sultan Mosque is unique in the world with its sky blue color and its main dome with a width of 62 meters, and it shines from afar with its four side domes and four minarets as well, each of which is 134 meters high.
The mosque can accommodate 35,000 worshipers and its carpet is hand-woven (Anatolia).
The mosque has a capacity of 35,000 people and is among the 10 largest mosques in the world, and thanks to the underground heating system, worshipers will be able to perform their worship in the courtyard of the building during the winter season.
The qibla wall, made with the inscription of the Beautiful Names of God, features 25 million glass mosaics.
The main chandelier of the mosque also holds a world record for its large size, consisting of 1.5 million crystals.
The mosque impresses its visitors with its hand-woven oval carpet by nearly 5,000 people in India, in addition to the fact that all its doors and stained glass are handmade.
This mosque, which is expected to become one of the new symbols of the country, includes an Islamic museum, a library, an auditorium, Quran classrooms, a conference hall, and an indoor car park.