The Faisal Mosque is the national mosque of Pakistan, located in Islamabad, the capital of the country. It is the sixth-largest mosque in the world, the largest mosque outside the Middle East, and the largest within South Asia, located on the foothills of Margalla Hills. A major tourist attraction in Pakistan, the mosque is a contemporary and influential piece of Islamic architecture. Construction of the mosque began in 1976. The design features eight-sided shell shaped sloping roofs forming a triangular worship hall which can hold 10,000 worshippers. Combined the structure covers an area of 130,000 square metres; 1,400,000 square feet (33 acres), the mosque dominates the landscape of Islamabad. Faisal Mosque was the largest mosque in the world from 1986 until 1993 when it was overtaken by the mosques in Saudi Arabia. It is now the sixth-largest mosque in the world in terms of capacity.