Natuna, Batamnews - The beauty and splendor of the Natuna Grand Mosque, which is located in Natuna Regency, Riau Islands (Kepri), has become a major icon for the district which is directly adjacent to the South China Sea.

This Grand Mosque was built as part of the My North Gate Complex in Ranai City. The beauty of the Great Mosque of Natuna is no less than mosques in other big cities.

Uniquely, the Great Mosque of Natuna is touted as the Taj Mahal of Indonesia. This is because the building design is similar to the Taj Mahal in India.

From some sides, it looks very much like the original Taj Mahal. So there is no need to go all the way to India, because it turns out that Indonesia, especially Riau Islands, also has its own Taj Mahal.

The Natuna Grand Mosque was built in 2007 and was inaugurated in 2009. This mosque was built to support the vision and mission of developing Natuna Regency from a religious perspective.

To create a religious atmosphere amid the Natuna community, the majority of which are Malay-Islamic tribes. The construction of the magnificent Natuna Grand Mosque cost Rp 400 billion.

The design and architecture of the Great Mosque of Natuna are conditional on Islamic philosophical values. When viewed from the outside, especially from the front, the Great Mosque of Natuna is indeed very similar to the Taj Mahal.

The plaza part of the mosque has a very wide size which allows it to be used as a place to hold large events such as MTQ, Hajj rituals, Eid prayers, Eid al-Adha prayers, and other major religious events.

The dome of the mosque is dominated by green and yellow colors, with a height of 17 meters which symbolizes the number of rak'ahs of prayer in a day. The interior of the dome is decorated with calligraphy and floral designs.

The inside of the mosque has a large size, each row can accommodate up to 180 people.

The middle of the mosque room looks very bright, this is due to the incoming light coming from the dome. While on the edge of the room will look shadier because it is covered by the top floor of the mosque.

The contrasting lighting difference in the interior of the mosque has the meaning of the Muslim worship journey towards a bright spot of the greatness of the Creator.