His Majesty King Saud Mosque ( ar, مسجد الملك سعود) is the largest
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
in the city of
Jeddah and is located in Jeddah's Al-Sharafeyyah District.
The Mosque was designed by
Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil
Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil ( ar, عبد الواحد الوكيل, born 7 August 1943) is an Egyptian architect who designed over 15 mosques in Saudi Arabia and is considered by many as the foremost contemporary authority in Islamic architecture. For ...
and was finished in 1987. It is mainly built of bricks and covers an area of with the prayer hall alone covering . The largest dome has a span of and reaches a height of . The Minaret reaches a height of
Description
at Archnet.com with plans and pictures.
Layout and architecture
The layout is reminiscent of Persian four-iwan designs, such as the Great Mosque of Esfahan in Iran. The Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan
The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan ( ar, مسجد ومدرسة السلطان حسن ) is a monumental mosque and madrasa located in Salah al-Din Square in the historic district of Cairo, Egypt. It was built between 1356 and 1363 during the Bahri ...
in Cairo in Egypt may have served as model for the minaret and other features such as the decoration of the attic.
The mosque itself is rectangular, almost square, with a rectangular court built somewhat offset to the west. Four iwans open to the central court. The iwans are not emphasized as individual structures as in the Persian examples but are mere openings in a large screen wall. The north and south iwans are each set in front of a domed hall that separate four pillared halls to the east and west. The west halls are divided by two pillars each into three naves with to bays. The larger east halls have three naves with five bays and eight pillars each. The east iwan is the largest and connects the court to the largest domed hall that rises between the longer pillared halls in front of the qibla
The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...
wall. Irregularly shaped rooms fill the triangular spaces between the actual mosque and the outside facade on the north, south and east wall because the mosque is built at an angle to the street grid so that the qibla wall may point to Makkah
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...
. The west facade opens to the Medinah Road with a large cubic structure added to the northern end. The minaret of the mosque towers over the south west corner of this structure that has a large iwan opening to the south leading into a domed hall that connects to a corridor that runs along the west wall of the mosque. This large Iwan with the minaret on the left and the mosque connecting at a right angle to the right, both accessible by a flight of steps, form an iconic group that easily catches the eye when looking north along the Medinah road.
Gallery
Image:King_Saud_Mosque2_(6).jpg, The sun shade over the central court
Image:King_Saud_Mosque2_(8).jpg, A dome seen from the inside
See also
* List of mosques in Saudi Arabia
* Lists of mosques
* List of things named after Saudi Kings
References
External links
{{Mosques in Saudi Arabia
1987 establishments in Saudi Arabia
King Saud Mosque
Mosques completed in 1987
New Classical architecture
Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil buildings