Mosques: The 100 Most Iconic Islamic Houses of Worship

Many great civilizations have reserved their most sublime creations for their places of worship, and Islam is no exception. Mosques are the ultimate expression of faith, on which patrons, architects, and artists have lavished their wealth and creative powers for nearly fourteen centuries. Muslims have spread to all corners of the globe, making the selection of just one hundred— from the hundreds of thousands of existing mosques—no small task. Places in which to pray are among the most versatile of Islamic structures, and this versatility demands to be represented, from modest neighborhood mosques to monumental congregational mosques and sprawling shrines. The extraordinarily rich historical legacy of these edifices needs to be covered, as well as the exciting new developments that are taking place in mosque architecture in the modern era, pointing the way toward the future.