Sunday, April 14, 2013

Top 10 Mosques of the world (Badshahi Mosque)- 6th

Badshahi Mosque or the 'King's Mosque' in Lahore, commissioned by the 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.


Badshahi Mosque

Epitomizing the beauty, passion and grandeur of the Mughal era, it is Lahore most famous landmark and a major tourist attraction. Capable of accommodating 5,000 worshipers in its main prayer hall and a further 95,000 in its courtyard and porticoes, it remained the largest mosque in the world from 1673 to 1986 (a period of 313 years), when overtaken in size by the completion of the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. Today, it remains the second largest mosque in Pakistan and South Asia and the fifth largest mosque in the world after the Masjid AL-Haram (Grand Mosque) of Mecca, the Al-Masjid AL-Nabawi (Prophet's Mosque) in Medina, the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca and the Faisal Mosque in Islamabad. 



To appreciate its large size, the four minarets of the Badshahi Mosque is 13.9 ft (4.2 m) taller than those of the Taj Mahal and the main platform of the Taj Mahal can fit inside the 278,784 sq ft (25,899.9 m2) courtyard of the Badshahi Mosque, which is the largest mosque courtyard in the world. 



In 1993, the Government of Pakistan recommended the inclusion of the Badshahi Mosque as a World Heritage Site in UNESCO's World Heritage List, where it has been included in Pakistan's Tentative List for possible nomination to the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

Location                         Pakistan Lahore, Pakistan
Affiliation                      Sunni Islam
Province                        Punjab
District                           Lahore
Year consecrated      1671
Ecclesiastical or         Mosque  
organizational status    
Leadership                   Aurangzeb
Architectural type    Mosque
Architectural style   Islamic, Mughal
Completed                   1673
Capacity                       100,000
Dome(s)                        3
Minaret(s)                   8 (4 major, 4 minor)
Minaret height           176 ft 4 in (53.75 m)