Kuwait

The largest mosque in Kuwait along the Gulf coast, begun in 1979 and inaugurated in 1986 to a design by architect Mohammed Saleh Makiya. Set within a 45,000-square-metre complex, its square prayer hall measuring 72 metres on each side holds around 10,000 to 11,000 worshippers beneath a central dome 26 metres in diameter and 43 metres high resting on four columns. The complex houses an Islamic library and welcomes visitors of all faiths on guided tours.

Arabian Gulf Street, Kuwait City

Photo: Zairon, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A monumental golden-ochre sandstone basilica standing near Arabian Gulf Street in the historic Qibla district of Kuwait City, designed by Milanese architect Emilio Tenca on land graciously granted by Emir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah and consecrated on March 16, 1961 by Bishop Teofano Ubaldo Stella, serving as the Co-Cathedral of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia for hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful across multiple rites and languages.

Co-Cathedral of the Apostolic Vicariate of Northern Arabia (Vicariatus Apostolicus Arabiae Septentrionalis; originally Cathedral of the Apostolic Vicariate of Kuwait from 1961 to 2021)Arabian Gulf Street (at Al-Shuhada Street, Block 15), Qibla District, Kuwait City, Capital Governorate (Al-Asimah), State of Kuwait

Photo: Christian World, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

The historic Mother Church of the Catholic community in Kuwait situated in the oil town of Al Ahmadi, originating from a modest 1948 chapel founded by Discalced Carmelite Father Teofano Ubaldo Stella and rebuilt in stone on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1956, enshrining the original Lebanese cedarwood statue of Our Lady of Arabia personally blessed by Pope Pius XII at the Vatican in December 1949 and canonically crowned in January 2011.

Mother Church of the Catholic Church in Kuwait and Historic Shrine of the Original Statue of Our Lady of Arabia (Principal Patroness of the Arabian Peninsula, affiliated with the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome)Block 5, Central Al Ahmadi, Al Ahmadi Governorate, State of Kuwait

Photo: Irvin calicut, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

An iconic masterpiece of mid-century Gulf Islamic Modernism located in the model suburb of Abdullah Al-Salem in Kuwait City, constructed between 1972 and August 26, 1976 through the vision of modernist architect Sayed Karim and Pan Arab Consulting Engineers (PACE), renowned for its monumental ribbed green-and-white saucer dome resting directly over a circular prayer hall without interior columns and its soaring conical minaret.

Landmark of Mid-Century Gulf Islamic Modernist Architecture and Former State Ceremonial Mosque of Kuwait (1976 to 1986), Administered by the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic AffairsNusf Al-Yousef Street, Block 1, Abdullah Al-Salem Suburb, Kuwait City, Capital Governorate (Al-Asimah), State of Kuwait

Photo: Zairon, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

A cherished pre-oil heritage mosque built in 1893 (1311 AH) by the renowned pearl merchant and philanthropist Shamlan bin Ali bin Saif Al-Roumi in the historic Mirqab quarter of Kuwait City, preserved intact within a bustling modern traffic roundabout beneath gleaming skyscrapers as a living testament to traditional Kuwaiti coral-stone, mud-brick, and East African mangrove-pole architecture.

Protected National Heritage Mosque of the Pre-Oil Era (Conserved by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters NCCAL and the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs)Roundabout of Al-Shuhada Street and Abdulaziz Hamad Al-Saqer Street, Historic Mirqab and Sharq Border, Kuwait City, Capital Governorate (Al-Asimah), State of Kuwait

Photo: Zairon, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons