Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi hosts more than 1.2 million visitors in six months

Presidents of states, politicians and ministers from around the world were among the visitors to the mosque as Expo 2020 Dubai took place

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque was designed by Syrian architect Yousef Abdelky and built between 1996 and 2007. Antonie Robertson / The National

Construction of the mosque began in 1996. It took 11 years to build and involved engineers, artisans, workers, architects, design firms and construction companies from across the world. AFP

It was the passion project of the late President Sheikh Zayed, who died in 2004. Antonie Robertson / The National

Present all along was the idea of lunar light because of its significance in Islam. Victor Besa / The National

Light being tested on the actual shell of the mosque. Courtesy Speirs and Major

There are 19,225 lighting fixtures on the mosque. Around the exterior are 600 individual lights. Antonie Robertson / The National

The lighting became fully operational by 2010 and is run by a computer system with a lunar clock and is all set for the next 300 years. Victor Besa / The National

Most of the lights have now been converted to energy-efficient LEDs. Victor Besa / The National

More than 1.2 million worshippers, tourists and residents visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi during the six months of Expo 2020 Dubai.

From October to the end of March, a total of 1.26 million people travelled to the mosque.

The major events hosted in the UAE over the past six months, including Expo 2020, the FIFA Club World Cup, and Global Goals Week, helped to attract 2,452 international delegation members to tour the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

These included presidents of states to politicians and ministers.

The mosque also hosted 51 visits from local and international academic institutions, in addition to 293 visitors representing international media outlets, including television stations in Argentina, Ecuador and Luxembourg.

During the same period, 228,000 worshippers attended prayers there.

From October 2021 to March 2022, the mosque sponsored 2,596 cultural tours in Arabic, English, Spanish and Korean, and the number of reservations by tourism companies reached 13,667, involving 193,501 visitors.