Dilmun Tour-1

Al Fateh Mosque

Our morning visit was to the Grand Mosque, a definite must for visitors with its particularly Bahraini architecture. The Grand Mosque is topped by the world’s largest fibre glass dome. Inside, it is very light, tranquil and quite beautiful with very big archways on all sides, a gigantic circle of suspended lights in the middle and a huge chandelier in its centre. Ladies were allowed inside the mosque although on condition of wearing an abhaya.

There is normally no problem about taking photographs. Policemen on duty were helpful and acted like informal guides. One of them even showed around. To get the full majesty of the interior, you need a very wide-angle lens. You will also need a tripod, unless you are willing to push the ISO to its limits and compromise on image quality by inviting noise.

It can be quite frustrating without a wide-angle because it’s much harder to give the impression of size. All is not lost however if you don’t have one, because the outside is also very picturesque. You do need to walk back some distance to include such a large building, especially to keep the very tall minarets in the picture.