India Guide
Andhra Pradesh
Mecca Masjid
Address: Southwest of the Lad Bazaar, behind the Charminar
Mecca Masjid is the sixth largest mosque in India, constructed in 1598 by the sixth king, Abdullah Qutb Shah, from locally hewn blocks of black granite. Small red bricks from Mecca are slotted over the central arch. The mosque can hold three thousand devotees with up to ten thousand more in the courtyard; on the left of the courtyard are the tombs of the nizams. In May 2007 the mosque was rocked by a powerful bomb; the incident killed fourteen people, five of those shot by police in the ensuing chaos. The perpetrators were never caught and since this and subsequent bombings, security has been very tight at all public places in the city.