It was a beautiful day in mid-May. I decided to take a trip
to the oldest part of the city, the area where the two tributaries of the Klang River
meet. It was around this vicinity the city of
Kuala Lumpur starts it humble beginning in
the middle of the nineteen century. Then the country was ruled by the British
colonial authority. At the confluence landmass just before the Klang and the
Gombak rivers meet there is a beautifully architectural mosque build at the
beginning of the twentieth century. It was build for the Muslim who lives
around that area then, as well as the official mosque for the capital of the
country Kuala Lumpur.
It was officially open by the then Sultan of Selangor in 1909. So that made this
magnificent mosque more that a hundred years old. It remains as the main mosque
in Kuala Lumpur
until a new mosque, the
Masjid Negara was build in
1965. Even after that the
Masjid Jamek mosque
as it is known still play a significant role as a place of worship where folks
congregate for their daily prayer as well the weekly Friday Prayer. Come Friday
this mosque would be crowded, with some worshipers had to do the praying on the
payment outside.
As can been seen in this image it is as magnificent as it
was first build in the days where there was no skyscrapers or tall buildings
around it. By itself it was a work of art and a masterpiece architecture that
continue to draw worshipers and visitors alike to it till these days.
I was
there last Wednesday and walk the ground again and saw its at close range.
Since it was before prayer time it was easy to go and have a look at the nooks
and corners of the place. I saw the floor area is well-kept and clean just like
new. The whole floor area was of marbles and looks shining clean and cool to
sit on. That is why I felt that marble or ceramic tile is the best material for
the flooring of mosque in this part of the world where the climate is always
humid. It is easily kept clean all the time by just sweeping and mopping it.
The same cannot be said about carpet. I believe that carpet is not suitable as
flooring material in mosque since it is not possible to clean it all the time. Besides
carpet harbors millions of dust mites and could not be removed by vacuum
cleaning. It could only be clean and rid of the dust mites only by drying it in
the sun which is impossible to do for a wall-to-wall carpet. Even with a
smaller carpet to me it is almost impossible to dry it in the sun all the
times. So I hope planner of mosque in the tropic should not put carpet as the
flooring material but use marble or ceramic tile instead.
While there I met a
few tourists from as far as Morocco who came to wander along admiring the
architecture of this magnificent old mosque; the Masjid Jamek of Kuala Lumpur.
Have a nice day.
[click on image to enlarge]
Pak Idrus, this mosque was restored at a cost of RM4.8m back in 1984. Razaly Associates were the Architect and I happen to be the qs. What was significant was that one of the tower nearest to the river was tilting and we had to underpin it using micropiles, done by Bachy Soletanch from France. The dome was also renewed then
ReplyDeletebasar, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting.
ReplyDeleteThe valuable information on the RM4.8 millions restoration works is indeed an add value to this posting. It is information like this that should be in Wikipedia and I hope it would eventually get there so that others may know of the amount of works and money the country put into to restoring it heritage for the future generation.
Personally I felt this mosque is better designed and user friendly and have character than the Putrajaya mosque which is more like a plastic mold of another mosque and look just a copy of some Moorish building in the other parts of the world.
Like I had related in this posting the Masjid Jamed mosque is a works of art and a masterpiece of its own kind. A great architectural works indeed.
Have a nice day.
Its history, architecture, beauty and age... all these should make our unique Jameq mosque a major attraction for Malaysian and foreign tourists. But, when it comes to "mosque" foreign tourists in particular, I think, are more familiar with our National and Putrajaya mosques. Indeed, old mosques that we have throughout the country do exhibit their own unique character that we must cherish.
ReplyDeleteTemuk, thanks for the visit and sharing your thoughts on the subject of this posting. Yes indeed the Masjid Jamek mosque is unique in that the architecture is unique especially its floor is not of carpet but marble. To me all mosque in the tropic should have marble or Ceramic tile floor and not carpet. This floor at the Masjid Jamek still as good and great to sit down and pray instead of the carpet which to me is always dirty and not that easy to clean.
ReplyDeletePersonally I do not like the Putrajaya mosque since its architectural look like a copy of other mosque and it look like plastic to me.
Well as you indicated tourists know more about a country mosque than the local since they often visit such place of worship in the tour of a country.
Have a nice day.
Salam, i am currently conducting a survey for my master thesis in UiTM. it would be a big help if u guys could answer the survey. Thanks in advance.
ReplyDeletehttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGhMa19JeDlpZ04xajZTVnROYVl2cWc6MQ