Everywhere there were crowds, from the suq to the white minarets of 1200-year-old Umayyad Mosque.

Its white minaret can be climbed via a spiral staircase for a view of the courtyards, gardens, and Guangzhou's modern skyscrapers.

But the shimmering white minaret, and the impressive dome, designed to shelter 3,500 worshippers, are deceptive.

Now, against the emerald green shoulder of an Andean ridge, a slim white minaret rises 370 feet to a crown of a star and crescent.

The golden Dome reared up against a blue sky as we made our approach, flanked at its base by white minarets.

The green portion contained an image of a white minaret.

Then Jesus (peace be upon him) will descend at the white minaret to the east of Damascus.

Militants used the mosque's two white minarets as vantage points, resulting in damage to the minarets.

The grand mosque has two white minarets standing 34 metres tall, which dominate the low-rise skyline of the residential neighbourhoods on the ridges nearby.

Above them and behind them, the cool white minaret of a mosque stared blindly down upon the scene.