King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque

The King Hussein Mosque, also known as the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque, is the biggest in Jordan, measuring 60,000 square meters.

The mosque, situated in the outskirts of Jordan, is perched atop the highest hill in the region, giving it a platform to look out over Al-Hussein Public Parks, the Children's Museum, the Royal Automobile Museum, and the surrounding areas.

It was constructed with two main goals: first, to commemorate Jordan's late King Hussein, who died in 1999, and second, to serve as a landmark and the country's official state mosque.

With an area of 8,000 square meters and a capacity for 5,000 worshipers inside and outside, the mosque was created by British architect Khaled Azzam, born in Egypt, and finished in 2006.

The mosque's massive square structure and four minarets are linked to Cairo's medieval age by the pre-modern Islamic architecture of Egypt.

The building area is approximately 8000 m2, and there are 450 parking places available. The region has internal lanes, roads, sidewalks, stairways, and planted basins, all surrounded by greenery.

The architect created a 'spiritual axis' by mirroring the mosque's main dome on the minarets and aligning the plan with Jerusalem to the southwest. The mosque's mihrab is an example of Islamic art, evoking the pure-wood mihrabs that were once typical in mosques. Without metal fasteners or adhesive, oak and walnut wood were linked together in the shape of a 'interlock' using a method that hasn't been employed in 200 years. The conspicuous Islamic inscriptions on the walls, arches, and floors combine modernity with originality to remind the Hashemite interest in building and art.

Highlights:

• A sequence of arches and vaulted arcades marking the outdoor prayer space and going into a courtyard with the building surrounding it welcome visitors at the main entrance.
• The main prayer room, which can accommodate 2,500 worshipers, is reached from the courtyard through an open space known as the iwan, primarily vaulted in traditional Islamic architecture.
• On top of the primary indoor prayer area, it has stone roofs and a façade embellished with Islamic shapes and inscriptions. There are entrances with ten-meter-tall stone arches on the mosque's ground floor, which also includes stone roofing and a façade decorated with Islamic symbols.
• The external prayer hall is covered with a set of domes created and shaped with reinforced concrete and adequate ablution areas and water supplement facilities. The main dome, which is 31 meters high, has a roof characterized by arches and smaller domes.
• Offices, classrooms, a library, and other amenities are located on the first floor, while a 350 square meter, double-winged women's prayer hall is located on the second story.
• Two sections designated as women's prayer rooms with separate ablution areas are located on the mezzanine floor, amid the inner and outer prayer halls.