junglemania: February 2014

Thursday 27 February 2014

The most beautiful mosques in the World

Al-Aqsa-Mosque
Al-Aqsa Mosque also known as Al-Aqsa and Bayt al-Muqaddas, is the third holiest site in Islam and an Islamic shrine located in the Old City of Jerusalem. In the mosque itself is part of Al-Haram ash-Sharif or “Sacred Noble Sanctuary” (together with the Dome of the Rock), a site which is also known as Temple Mount as the holiest site in Judaism, because it is believed to be The Temple of Jerusalem once stood. Muslims believe that the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition states that Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) led prayers toward this mosque until the seventeenth month after the emigration, when Allah ordered him to turn to the Kaaba.

Al-Haram-Mosque
The Qur’an said that this was the first house built for humanity to worship Allah. The most famous monument in the world, Al Haram mosque or “Grand Mosque” is located in the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the largest mosque in the world and surrounds one of Islam’s holiest places, the Kaaba. The mosque is also known as the greatest Mosque. Current structure covers an area of 400,800 square meters (99.0 acres), including outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to 4 million people during the period of the Hajj, one of the largest annual worship of the Muslim in the world.

Al-Masjid-an-Nabawi
Al Nabawi Mosque, often called the Prophet’s Mosque, is a mosque built by the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) situated in the city of Medina. It is the second holiest site in Islam (the first being the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca). It was the second mosque built in history and is now one of the largest mosques in the world after the al-Haram mosque in Mecca. One of the most important place of this mosque is Green Dome (the center of the mosque), where the tomb of the Prophet Mohammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is located. In 1279 AD, a wooden cupola was built over the tomb which was later rebuilt and renovated multiple times in late 15th century and once in 1817. The dome was first painted green in 1837, and later became known as the Green Dome.

Hassan-II-Mosque Morocco
The Grande Mosquée Hassan II, located in Casablanca, Morocco. It is the largest mosque in the country and the 7th largest in the world. Its minaret is the world’s tallest at 210 metres (689 ft). It was completed in 1993. The minaret is 60 stories high topped by a laser, the light from which is directed towards Mecca. The mosque stands on a promontory looking out to the Atlantic Ocean, the sea bed being visible through the glass floor of the building’s hall. The walls are of hand-crafted marble and the roof is retractable. A maximum of 105,000 worshippers can gather together for prayer: 25,000 inside the mosque hall and another 80,000 on the mosque’s outside grounds.

Beautiful Mosques in Pakistan

Badshahi-Masjid-Pakistan
The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, commissioned by the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1671 and completed in 1673, is the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world. Epitomising the beauty, passion and grandeur of the Mughal era, it is Lahore’s most famous landmark and a major tourist attraction.

Bhong-Mosque-Rahim-Yar-Khan
Bhong Masjid is located in the village of Bhong, Sadiqabad Tehsil, Rahim Yar Khan District, Southern Punjab Pakistan. It was designed and constructed over a period of nearly 50 years (1932–1982) and won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1986 and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in 2004. The mosque is well-known for its exquisite design and architectural beauty with gold leaves carved for the intricate decorative patterns and the stylish calligraphic work.

Masjid-e-Tooba-Karachi
Masjid e Tooba or Tooba Mosque is located in Karachi, and is locally known as the Gol Masjid. It was built in 1969, and is often claimed to be the largest single-dome mosque in the world. The mosque is built with pure white marble. The dome is 72 meters (236 feet) in diameter and is balanced on a low surrounding wall with no central pillars. Masjid e Tooba has a single minaret standing 70 meters high. The mosque is the 18th largest in the world with the central prayer hall having a capacity of 5,000 people. It was designed by Pakistani architect Dr Babar Hamid Chauhan and the engineer was Zaheer Haider Naqvi.

Wazir-Khan-Masjid
Located in Lahore, the mosque is famous for its extensive faience tile work. It has been described as ‘a mole on the cheek of Lahore’. It was built in seven years, starting around 1634–1635 AD, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan. The mosque is inside the Inner City and is easiest accessed from Delhi Gate. The mosque contains some of the finest examples of Qashani tile work from the Mughal period.

Shah-Jahan-Masjid-Thatta
The Shah Jahan Mosque is located in Thatta, Sindh province, Pakistan. The mosque was built in 1647, during the reign of Mughal King Shah Jahan, as a gift to the people of Sindh for their hospitality. It is built with red bricks with blue coloured glaze tiles probably imported from the town of Haala, Sindh. It has a total of 93 domes. It was built keeping acoustics in mind. A person speaking on one end of the dome can be heard from the other end when the speech exceeds 100 decibel.

National-Mosque-of-Pakistan
Located in the national capital city of Islamabad. The Faisal Mosque is the largest in South Asia and fourth largest in the world. The most famous mosques in Pakistan was designed by Turkish architect Vedat Dalokay to be shaped like a desert Bedouin’s tent, it completed in 1986. The Mosque is conceived as the National Mosque of Pakistan and named after the late King Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who supported and financed the project. Unlike traditional masjid design, it lacks a dome. he minarets borrow their design from Turkish tradition and are thin and pencil like.

Shahi-Eidgah-Mosque
This grand mosque of Multan is located on the main Multan-Lahore highway in the Northeast of the city. It was built in 1735 AD by Nawab Abdul Samad Khan when he was the Mughal governor of Multan. It is very spacious, provided with a vast courtyard and a huge prayer chamber measuring 250 feet by 54 feet and crowned by seven domes. Its exterior was faced with glazed blue tiles and the interior was ornamented with colorful mosaics.

World's abandoned beautiful places

Tequendama Falls is an upcoming museum in San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia. The building was constructed as a mansion in 1923, as a symbol of the joy and elegance of the elite citizens of the 20s. Later in July 1950, the building was reconstructed into an eighteen story hotel. The hotel was then abandoned in the 90s for more than two decades due to river contamination. Now, it is a major tourist attraction. The thousands of tourists who visit the area to admire the 157 metre (515 feet) tall waterfall and the surrounding nature, make a stop at another nearby landmark as well, the abandoned Hotel del Salto. Situated just opposite to the waterfall and on the edge of the cliff, it provided a breathtaking view to its guests.

The famous temple of the goddess Sarasvatī (Sharda) on the banks of Neelum River, (Kishenganga River) in Neelum Valley, Kashmir in Pakistan. The Kashmiris are highly devoted towards this great deity whom they call as ‘BHAGWATI’. During their daily worship they often say “Namastey Sharada Devi Kashmir Pur Vasini Tvam Ham Prartheye Nityam Vidya Danam Che De hi mey” meaning Salutations to you, O Sharada, O Goddess, O one who resides in Kashmir. I pray to you daily, please give me the charity of knowledge. The temple was last repaired by Maharaja Gulab Singh of Kashmir.

Craco is an abandoned commune and medieval village located in the Region of Basilicata and the Province of Matera in Italy. About 25 miles inland from the Gulf of Taranto at the instep of the “boot” of Italy. It is typical of the hill towns of the region with mildly undulating shapes and the lands surrounding it sown with wheat. It was abandoned in 1963 due to recurring earthquakes.

The adventure behind the Dome House at Cape Romano, Florida, is as aberrant as the alone architecture itself. A continued appellation victim of decay, the abode was originally built in 1981 in Naples and sold to John Tosto in 2005. Since again it’s been at the centre of a longstanding redevelopment dispute, which reportedly could accept saddled Tosto with fines of over $185,000 on the property.

Fishing Hut in Lake of Berchtesgaden National Park. The Park is located in the southeast of Germany, in the Free State of Bavaria, adjoining the state of Salzburg in Austria. Founded in 1978, the park includes an area of 210 square kilometers and is owned by the state. Its high mountain landscapes are characterized by extensive forests and steep rock faces.

The SS Ayrfield – previously known as the SS Corrimal, is a rusty shipwreck with dense vegetation on the surface of the wreck, it is stuck in the calm waters of homebush bay, west of Sydney, Australia. It was a steel-hulled, single screw, steam collier of 1140 tonnes and 79.1m in length. It was built in the UK in 1911 and registered at Sydney in 1912. It was purchased by the Commonwealth Government and used to transport supplies to American troops stationed in the Pacific region during WWII.

North Brother Island is a small island in the East River situated between the Bronx and Riker’s Island, New York City. Once the site of a hospital, it is now uninhabited and designated as a bird sanctuary. It measures approximately 400 m by 250 m. Its smaller companion, South Brother Island, is a short distance away. Together, the two Brother Islands, North and South, have a land area of 20.12 acres.