Ahmedabad: Just before they savour traditional Gujarati food in dinner at the Agashiye restaurant, The House of MG, on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will act as a guide to Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the famous Sidi Saiyed mosque, located just opposite the almost 100-year-old restaurant in Ahmedabad.
PM Modi will describe the significance of the 16th-century mosque - symbolic of Ahmedabad's rich cultural history - to his Japanese counterpart. The Prime Minister's Office had earlier written a letter to the Sunni Waqf Board, seeking information on the historical and architectural significance of Sidi Saiyed Mosque so that the PM could narrate its grandeur.
The mosque is believed to have been built by Sidi Saiyed in 1572. Sidi Saiyed was an Abyssinian from Ethiopia. Sultan Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah III was then the Sultan of Ahmedabad and the last Sultan of the Ahmedabad Sultanate.
The mosque has been a prominent monument of the city, and its intricate carvings are considered an architectural masterpiece. The intricate "Tree of Life" lattice window of the mosque is so famous that the Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad (IIM-A) adopted it as its logo.
Over the one past month, a number of officials, including some from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the Archaeological Survey of India and the SPG, visited the Sidi Saiyed Mosque. The AMC and ASI have been working round the clock over the past fortnight to give final touches to the structure as the two world leaders are likely to pose for a photo at around dusk on Wednesday with the lit-up mosque in the background.
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