Burj al Arab – World’s Largest Christian Cross

September 7, 2007 · Filed Under Architecture Rumbling · 76 Comments 
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This is probably an outdated news and it is all over the internet, anyway, Burj al Arab was designed by Tom Wright of WS Atkins PLC, during the designing stage, the world was told that it was built to resemble a sail, but critics are claiming that Wright designed the cross after he had a dream to have a Christian influence in a Muslim country.

Burj al Arab - World’s Largest Christian Cross

Burj al Arab - World’s Largest Christian Cross

Some locals claim that this was an intentional move on the part of the British architects. This issue is more ironic when one considers that the Tower of the Arabs is widely considered to be Dubai’s most important landmark. A Conspiracy indeed, but no words yet from the architect himself. The real question is, does it matter if it looks like a cross?

dubai car plate number burj al dubai

In the year 2001, Dubai introduced the 4th series number plate. It has the Burj al Arab symbol, due to conspiracy theories and controversies surrounding Burj Al Arab’s resemblance to the Christian cross, the Burj Al Arab symbol was removed without any explanation in the year 2004.

An interesting story is told back to back which says that apparently any cars registered in Dubai, that have one of the older license plates which have an image of the Burj Al Arab on them, aren’t allowed to drive into Saudi Arabia.

Coming from a country that the official religion is Islam, I find it hard to digest the fact that Malaysian of other faith such as Buddhist, Christian, Hindus and others are not allowed (unofficially) to built any religious structure or building that exceed the height of any mosque in their respective towns, except for a few temples and churches like the Batu Caves temple and Kek Loh Si temple. It is not a written law, don’t believe me? Ask any senior draftsperson or architects.

Bias it may be but when the British disapproved the Mega-Mosque in London, the British Muslim was pissed, the mega mosque is believed to be so huge that it will dwarf many of Britain’s Christian cathedrals.

Councilor Craig, who lives in a city with 300 mosques and 500 madrassahs, suggests that Britain not allow any more mosques until Muslims allow churches in Saudi Arabia. Craig said, “Why should the Saudis pay for a mosque in the UK when there is not one single church, temple, goodwara, synagogue in Saudi at all?” – CBN

What goes around comes around, and if you need to look for a guilty then you only need to look into a mirror. After all, Burj al Arab is on Muslim soil, some minor renovation can be done to rectify this whole Christian cross issue, now, the real question is why don’t they do it? What say you?

Source:
Perpettualy Daily
CBN – Mega Mosque
Europe’s Largest Mosque
Wikipedia – Burj al Arab
Cross fire in Dubai

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New Islamic Centre for London

November 24, 2005 · Filed Under Architecture Matters · 1 Comment 
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New Islamic Centre for London

This must be one of the most conceptual mosque ever, unlike other traditional buildings especially house of god, holy buildings do not evolve in term of architecture, it remain almost the same thru out the ages, and even if there are any changes, it would normally be too small to be notice.

The proposed mosque in London is the work of Mangera Yvars Architects, it’s something different from the norm and yet acceptable by the Islamic society in London, maybe it’s because of the pressure given by the British government not to have a mosque that is so obvious over the skyline of London, after all religion is a sensitive issue, and I believe that the Arabs would do the same by preventing the Christian erecting a church beside the holy site in Mecca. Click here for the history of mosque architecture

The project is for an International Islamic Centre with a Mosque, School, Exhibition spaces and an Islamic Garden with a built area of 180,000m2. The site is 1km in length and sits on the banks of the Channelsea River and in proximity of the London 2012 Olympic sites. The form of the Mosque is determined by the axis of prayer towards Mecca and the contours of our new Islamic Garden. The Islamic Garden is a serene space for contemplation transposed onto multi-ethnic modern-day London. The project can be seen Islamic Calligraphy on an urban scale. The project adopts the idea of ‘Dawat’ or Invitation to Islam. Dawat space is an interstitial public space between the sanctum of the Mosque and the World outside. It is a place for Muslims and Non Muslims can meet and promote a greater understanding between ideology, faith and humanity. The scheme considers fluctuations in visitors and usage. Spaces can be extended in peak periods by inflatable structures which temporarily cover courtyards. The building, adopts the language of nomadic structures or tented cities.

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