Kampung Keling Mosque Melaka

January 31st, 2006

Pictures of Kampung Kling Mosque at Flickr

Whether you are a Muslim or otherwise, as long as you’re interested in the unique architecture of old buildings, you will find it worthy to visit the Sumatran-style Kampung Kling Mosque (Masjid Kampung Kling), built in 1748. Being one of the oldest functioning mosques in Malaysia, the Kampung Kling Mosque has gone through extensive timeframe and experienced changes of names – Kampung Pali Mosque, Kampung Balik Pali Mosque, Kampung Kapur Mosque.

Currently, the Kampung Kling Mosque is sitting peacefully within the busy Chinatown of Melaka (near to Cheng Hoon Teng Temple), surrounded by Chinese shop houses. However, when the mosque was originally erected, it was surrounded by neighborhood of South Indians (Keling/Kling).

The Kampung Kling Mosque is featuring vernacular mosque architecture with regional influence. It is built on a square plan rather than the rectangular or hexagonal plan of most Middle Eastern mosques. Instead of a conventional onion-like dome, the mosque has a three-tiered roof with decorative roof ridges rising like a pyramid in its place. Its minaret, structured like a pagoda, portrays a mixture of East-West architectural influence. The upper 2 layers of the three-tiered roof are covered with green tiles, while the lowest roof has a much more shallow pitch, practically horizontal and is covered by red clay shingles. If it wasn’t painted with green and white as the core colours, it’s hard to tell at one glance from exterior look if it was actually a mosque.

The vernacular mosques portray high level of craftsmanship. This can be seen in the roof, windows, fanlights, carving wall panels, fascia boards and well-designed mimbar with intricate flower motifs, to reflect Oriental influence. All the unique crafts are done by Malay craftsmen. When it was first built, there are 20 wooden side pillars, 12 wooden central pillars and four wooden main pillars. The woods used to construct the wooden pillars were imported from Kalimantan in Indonesia. Then in 1872, the pillars except the four main pillars were replaced with concrete.

In the mosque, there is a set of lamps dating back more than 100 years ago, and estimated to worth at the value of RM 150,000. This lamp set is said to be the only one in Malaysia, still functioning until today, and kept in good condition.

GPS Coordinate: N2.19679 E102.24752

Related Previous Posts

• Map@Melaka - Chinatown
• Dusk at Masjid Selat Melaka (Melaka Strait Mosque)
• Evening Walk at Sungai Melaka Riverwalk around Kampung Morten
• Melaka and George Town Listed as UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Sites
• Melaka River (Malacca River)

Entry Filed under: Historical Site, Religious

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