Putra Mosque

Masjid Putra was completed in 1999 as part of the construction of Putrajaya, the purpose-built administrative capital, and it sits on the lake shore beside Perdana Putra, the prime minister's office, with a plaza between them. The building is faced in rose-tinted granite, which is what gives it the pink colour it is known by, and the design draws on Persian and Safavid models - a large ribbed dome, a 116-metre minaret with five tiers for the five pillars, and a basement prayer hall partly built out over the water. It holds fifteen thousand. Much of the effect is the setting rather than the building: reflected in the lake with the bridges and the government blocks around it, it is the standard image of Putrajaya, and boat trips on the lake pass below it.

What you actually see

• Rose-pink granite - the tinted stone that gives the mosque its colour.
• A five-tier minaret - 116 metres, banded for the five pillars.
• A lakeside plaza - Dataran Putra with the prime minister's office alongside.
• The prayer hall over water - part of the structure built out into the lake.

When to go

All year; late afternoon for the light on the stone. An hour.

Honest expectations

Closed to visitors at prayer times and around Friday midday. Robes are required and lent at the door. Putrajaya is spread out, hot and hard to walk - plan transport between sights.

Nearby

Perdana Putra, the Putra Bridge and the Iron Mosque are all around the lake.