Masjid Jamek

Masjid Jamek stands on the spit of land where the Gombak runs into the Klang, the muddy confluence that gave Kuala Lumpur its name and the point where the first tin-trading settlement grew. Completed in 1909, it mixes Mughal forms with local brickwork: pink and white banded walls, three onion domes, slim minarets and a courtyard shaded by palms. For decades it was the principal mosque of the city, a role it kept until the national mosque opened in the 1960s. The riverbanks around it were rebuilt as a lit public promenade in the 2010s, which changed the setting considerably and made the building far easier to see from outside. Visitors outside prayer times are lent robes at the entrance.

History

The mosque was built on an old Malay burial ground at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak; smaller mosques had served the Malay community around Java Street and Malay Street, but this was the first large one in Kuala Lumpur. Arthur Benison Hubback designed it in the Indo-Saracenic style, loosely after Mughal architecture. The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sir Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah, laid the foundation stone on 23 March 1908 and opened it on 23 December 1909; it cost $32,625, paid partly by the Malay community and partly by the British colonial government. It was the city's main mosque until Masjid Negara was built in 1965. The forecourt was later roofed, the building was refurbished in 1984, when the minaret nearest the river, already leaning, was underpinned, and a dome that collapsed in heavy rain in 1993 was repaired; on 23 June 2017 Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah renamed it after his ancestor Sultan Abdul Samad, the fourth Sultan of Selangor (Wikipedia, Jamek Mosque).

Highlights

• The banded brick facade - pink and white horizontal stripes under three onion domes.
• The river confluence - the meeting of the Klang and Gombak that gave the city its name.
• The palm courtyard - the shaded forecourt between the prayer hall and the minarets.
• The riverside promenade - the rebuilt embankment walk that frames the mosque after dark.

When to go

Mid-morning or mid-afternoon, between prayer times, when the mosque admits visitors and the light is good on the brickwork. Friday around midday is busy with worshippers and closed to sightseeing. The riverside lighting comes on after dusk, which makes the better photograph. Dress means covered arms and legs, with robes lent at the door.

Good to know

It is small and the visit is short, twenty minutes at most inside the courtyard. Traffic and construction noise surround it, and the rebuilt riverbanks feel more like an urban plaza than a river. Visiting hours for non-worshippers are limited and change without notice, so a trip can end at a closed gate. Photographing people at prayer is not appropriate.

Nearby

The old parade ground, the Sultan Abdul Samad Building and Chinatown are all within a short walk.

Key facts