A missed flight gave me the opportunity to visit this mosque in Abu Dhabi on the Persian Gulf. Built between 1996 and 2007, it's the eighth largest mosque in the world and can host up to 40,000 worshippers.

It's decorated with exquisite craftsmanship: marble floors, walls and pillars inlaid with semi-precious stones, stained glass windows, mosaics on the walls and in niches, large chandeliers hanging from domes (a couple of these are photographed from below), the largest hand-knotted Persian carpet in the inner sanctum.

4 February 2015