The glorious architecture of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi has been nominated for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards.
As we reported in today's The National, UAE-based photographer Aashish Rajesh made it onto the shortlist for the prestigious competition.
The photograph was selected by a panel of photography industry experts from nearly 140,000 submissions by photographers from 166 countries; the highest number of entries in the awards’ seven year history.
This is good news for many reasons. Firstly, the image will go on show at Somerset House in London in May, so people all over the world will discover part of the beauty of our wonderful mosque and secondly, it gives people at home something to be proud of.
I learned recently that a good proportion of my friends have never actually visited this mosque, which is a travesty. Not only is it a marvellous piece of architecture, that complements the bright blue skies of our capital but it is the resting place of the founding father of the UAE - Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan. They do daily tours free of charge at 9.45am so there is no excuse not to go.
For more info on the Sony Photo Awards and for tickets to the event visit: www.worldphoto.org/2014exhibition.
