Grand Mosque Minarets

The minarets of the Grand Mosque are tall towers that rise above the roofs of the Grand Mosque from all sides. They announce the times of prayers through their loudspeakers. There are thirteen minarets, all of which are similar in their external design.

Each minaret of the Grand Mosque is divided into five sections: the base, the first balcony, the minaret shaft, the second balcony, and the pinnacle. These sections are clearly visible to the observer in their external form.

Above the Grand Mosque minarets are crescents made in different shapes across Islamic eras. The minaret crescents were renewed until they reached the aesthetic design they are erected today.

The first minaret built in the Grand Mosque was in the western corner during the expansion of the Abbasid Caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansour. During the First Saudi Extension of the Grand Mosque, the minarets were renovated in 1955, resulting in the establishment of seven minarets, each soaring to a height of eighty-nine m. These minarets as located at Bab al-Safa, King Abdulaziz Gate, Bab al-Umrah, Bab al-Salam, in addition to building two minarets on the two sides of King Fahd Gate with the same height, eighty-nine m, as the first expansion minarets.