His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, inaugurated the 360-degree Google Street View project creating a virtual tour enabling internet users to explore the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque online.
The new 360-degree guide was carried out with the full cooperation of the SZGMC and “Google Inc”. The guide is a part of the Google initiative that aims to capture every significant landmark on earth to be viewed online.
The online service enables viewers to virtually walk through and visually experience even the minutest details of the architecture of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the country’s largest mosque.
Among those who attended the event were, HE Ahmed Juma’a Al Za’abi, Deputy Minister for Presidential Affairs, SZGMC Board Chairman, HE Ahmed Mohamed Al Hameeri, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, HE Sultan Dahi Al Hameeri, Undersecretary of the Support Services Division, SZGMC Deputy Chairman, HE Yousif Al Obaidli, Director General of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center, and Mohamad Mourad, Regional Manager – Middle East & North Africa at Google Inc.
HE Yousif Al Obaidli, Director General of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center, made a presentation of the project to HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in which he noted that the project had used the latest photography technology to collect images of 360-degree from the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, using “street view” technology, where the virtual tour can be experienced by visiting www.google.ae/streetview.
The virtual tour is part of Google’s efforts to design a digital mirror of the real world as well as to provide internet users with a realistic experience of one of the most important landmarks of Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E.
In his remarks at the inauguration ceremony, HH Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed praised the initiative for enabling internet users to view the structure of the world’s most beautiful mosques which represents a valuable addition to humanity and the Islamic culture.
“Google Inc, as a global knowledge company and a major provider of tourism, cultural, intellectual and scientific information, plays an active role in building bridges for communication between the world’s different cultures. This is also the mission set for Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque which seeks to promote cultural interaction between peoples of the world.”
H.H. Sheikh Mansour said noting that the mosque’s virtual tour also gives any internet user worldwide the opportunity to taste the aesthetics of Islamic architecture.
In the operation carried out with the cooperation of the management of the mosque, Google team captured Street View imagery of the place using sophisticated equipment.
The virtual tour of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque can be experienced by visiting Google site maps: www.google.ae/streetview Mohamad Mourad, Regional Manager – Middle East & North Africa at Google Inc, noted that the virtual tour is part of Google’s efforts to design a digital mirror of the real world as well as to provide internet users with a realistic experience of one of the most important landmarks of Abu Dhabi and the U.A.E.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque is the second landmark in UAE after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, to be mapped by using this technology by Google Inc. Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque will now be among the world most renowned landmarks such as Eiffel Tower in France and Big Ben in London; and other natural wonders of the world.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque has the capacity for over 41,000 worshippers. It features 82 domes, over a 1,000 columns, 24 carat gold gilded chandeliers and the world’s largest hand knotted carpet. The main prayer hall is dominated by one of the world’s largest chandeliers -10 meters in diameter, 15 meters in height and weighing twelve tones.
In 2012 alone, the mosque attracted some 4.7 million visitors from across the world and was ranked in the top 13 most talked about destinations on Trip Advisor’s 2013 voted by Traveler’s Choice Awards.
The SZGMC, under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, is sponsored and monitored by His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs and was established to be the centre of the cultural and intellectual movement focused around the Mosque. Its vision and mission was created from the cultural and national values preserved and nurtured by the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (God rest his soul). These cultural values are still deeply-rooted in the consciousness of the people and are an extension of the national identity inspired by the teachings of the Nation’s religion.
