Spanish Mosque

Today evening I went to the Spanish Mosque in Begumpet along with shoaib.It is also known as the Moorish Mosque.Built in 1906 by Iqbal-ud-Daula,the paigah (the same family which built the Falaknuma Palace) it is a copy of a mosque in spain and is the only one of its kind in India.

'Madhu Vottery in her book 'A Guide to the Heritage of Hyderabad' says 'It is one of the best maintained mosques of the city,existing in its original shape even today.

We went to the mosque at the time of the Asar namaz.As we were gazing at the mosque from one end , a man waved at us from the mosque and motioned us to come near and take a closer look.The masjid is beautiful with the golden colour and is unlike any other mosque I have ever seen.Though it is small it looks something from the pages of Arabian nights.As the time for the namaz was getting near we made wazu and offered our namaz inside.After the namaz we took a few pics and made our way back home.

Note- no need to worry about taking pics as no one really bothered us.

Additional Info-from wikipedia
The other notable features are Moorish arches inside the prayer hall, Quranic verses in exquisite calligraphy inscribed on the inside walls, the absence of an ablution tank and a courtyard. In plan, the mosque comprises a main prayer hall, two rooms in front of it and a central corridor for entering the hall. It is over this central corridor or the entrance porch that the octagonal dome stands.
           The mosque is built with stone masonry in lime mortar up to the basement and the superstructure in brick masonry in lime mortar. The roof is jack arch type on iron girders with brick and lime concrete. The domes, minarets and small turrets are built with brick and stone masonry and the outer face plastered with lime mortar. The central dome has a perforated screen.

            Believed to be a copy of a similar mosque in Spain, it might have caught the attention of the Paigah noble, either during his eight month long tour of Europe or he may have stumbled on a photograph. Whatever the source, the Nawab lived up to his reputation of being a great builder having a penchant for creating something unique, as seen from his magnificent hilltop Falaknuma Palace.