Masjid Jamek

About Masjid Jamek

Mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Masjid Jamek, officially the Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque, is one of the oldest and most beautiful mosques in Kuala Lumpur, standing in the heart of the old city at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers, the very spot where Kuala Lumpur was born and from which it took its name ("muddy confluence"). It was designed by the British architect and soldier Arthur Benison Hubback in the style of the Mughal mosques of northern India and built in 1909, and it remained the principal mosque of the capital until the National Mosque was built in 1965. "Jamek" is the Malay equivalent of the Arabic jami', a congregational mosque, and locals also call it the Friday Mosque. Its most striking features are three elegant onion domes and minarets striped in red brick and white plaster; the domes dominated the Kuala Lumpur skyline long before the skyscrapers rose, and its setting between two rivers, ringed by palms and low walls, makes it an island of tranquillity in the busy city. The surroundings have been redeveloped under the River of Life project, which turned the riverbanks into a recreational promenade; at night the river is flooded with artificial mist and lit in blue in a show starting at 9:00 and 9:45 pm, a sight Wikivoyage calls marvellous, so the mosque and its setting are an essential stop on a tour of the historic centre together with the neighbouring Independence Square and Sultan Abdul Samad Building.

Where:

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia