Mecca Masjid

Mecca Masjid, on Makkah Masjid Road beside Charminar in the Old City of Hyderabad, Telangana, India, is one of the oldest and largest mosques in the country. Construction began in 1617 under Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the Qutb Shahi ruler who founded Hyderabad, and tradition holds that bricks in the central arch were made from soil brought from Mecca, which gave the mosque its name. Work continued for decades and the building was finally completed in 1694 under the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, after his conquest of Golconda in 1687, so the mosque records the passage from Qutb Shahi to Mughal rule. The prayer hall is built largely of granite, with huge arches carved from single blocks quarried nearby, and it can accommodate several thousand worshippers, with the courtyard bringing the total to many more. The main hall has three large arches on each side of a central bay, supported by heavy octagonal columns, and the roof is crowned by domes and slender minarets. The forecourt contains a tank for ablutions, and the mosque is set in a large open plaza. To the south of the mosque stands an enclosure with the tombs of the Asaf Jahi Nizams, beginning with Nizam Ali Khan, who ruled from 1762 to 1803, and including the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan's family members; the last Nizam, however, is buried elsewhere at the Jud Mosque. Conservation has been continuous, with the Archaeological Survey of India and state authorities repairing masonry and stucco, and the building remains a working place of worship rather than a museum. Because the hall is in daily use, visits are arranged around prayer times and interpretation is minimal. Visitors typically come to see the scale of the arches, the calm of the courtyard and the tombs, and to combine the visit with Charminar and the surrounding bazaars, which are within walking distance.