Jamek Mosque of Kuala Lumpur (2017)

December 05, 2017

The mosque was built on the location of an old Malay burial place at the confluence of Klang and Gombak Rivers and was named Jamek Mosque. A couple of mosques previously existed in the Java Street and Malay Street area serving the Malay communities, but Jamek Mosque was the first large mosque to be built in Kuala Lumpur.

The foundation stone of the mosque was laid by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sir Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah on 23 March 1908, and the Sultan officially opened the mosque on 23 December 1909.

The mosque has since been enlarged with extensions built, and the originally open-air forecourt roofed over. One of the domes of the mosque collapsed in 1993 due to heavy rain but has since been repaired.

On 23 June 2017, the mosque was renamed Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek Mosque by Selangor's Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah after his ancestor — the fourth Sultan of Selangor Sultan Abdul Samad — as the mosque was originally built on land that was part of the state of Selangor.

The architect was Arthur Benison Hubback who designed the mosque in the Indo-Saracenic style, loosely reflecting the Indian Muslim Mughal architectural style.

The design of the mosque has been described as Moorish, Indo-Saracenic, or Mughal architecture. A. B Hubback also designed a number of building in similar styles, such as the Kuala Lumpur railway station and the Ubudiah Mosque in Kuala Kangsar.

The mosque has 2 main minarets among other smaller ones; the pattern of pink and white banding of the minarets, formed of brick and plaster, has been described as "blood and bandage". The mosque has 3 domes, the largest of which reached 21.3 meters (70 ft) in height. The prayer hall is located beneath the domes. The mosque was refurbished in 1984 and the minaret nearest the river was underpinned as it was already sloping.

Jamek Mosque, officially known as Sultan Abdul Samad Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in the city. Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. The mosque was designed by Arthur Benison Hubback and built-in 1909 near the Klang and Gombak rivers.