The Largest Rug In The World In Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan Mosque Abu Dhabi
Officially, the Largest Rug in the world is now located in the Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi, two neighboring Emirati cities, are used to luxury and the finer things in life. They are both constantly competing for and debuting the biggest, most luxurious and newest things. Just a few of their recent additions include roller coasters, shopping malls and skyscrapers.
Sheikh Zayed Al-Nahyan, the first president and founder of the Emirates and the leader of Abu Dhabi, made plans for a spectacular mosque in his city. Sadly, only three years after he died, the project was completed and the newly built Sheikh Zayed mosque was as extravagant as ever. A majority of the photographs that have been taken of the mosque are of the minarets and domes, however, the most spectacular part about the building, in our opinion, has got to be the massive Persian carpet,which became known as the official largest in the world!
While the mosque was being built, Abu Dhabi’s government sought out artistic commissions from all over the world which incorporated and included creative ceramic, gold, crystal, stone and marble work from many different countries. The construction of the mosque was quite the undertaking and took more than 10 years, 38 contracting companies and 3,000 workers to complete.
Iran, in recognition of the rich carpet weaving history in the Middle East, contributed a large carpet woven by hand for the main prayer room of the mosque. Given the impressive size of the mosque, which spans over 30 acres, this fine classic carpet was far from ordinary.
Over 1,200 weavers from the Khorasan Province used 38 tons of wool and cotton to weave the newly titled largest rug in the world. Under the direction of a popular Iranian artist, Ali Khaliqi, it took a little over a year to complete just the drafting of the rug design. The oversized carpet was unveiled in 2007 for the mosque’s grand opening. It features 2.2 billion hand-tied, individual rug knots, weighs 12 tons, and covers 60,546 square feet.
Every detail in the massive carpet was executed as well as it was designed. The color that’s most prominent in this carpet is green which is significant for three different reasons. Green was a favorite color of Sheikh Zayed’s, it’s one of the colors in the Islamic flag, and it symbolized desert life. The perimeter of the largest rug in the world is a yellow beige color which represents the color of sand. Some visitors who stood on the massive rug believed they could feel a seam underneath, signifying that it was not entirely or truly one singularly spectacular large piece.
But this was not a mistake or an oversight of any kind. During the last phase, and the weavers sheared the rug and left raised lines on purpose. These raised surfaces lines were added as a way to help escort worshipers into well ordered rows during the actual prayer times. This carpet, the largest rug in the world, is a triumph of both craftsmanship and design.
This rug blog about Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Mosque and the largest rug in the world was published by Nazmiyal Antique Rugs in NYC.
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