Thai-Malay style
A tiered tiled roof.
Marufish from Alor Setar, Malaysia — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Marufish from Alor Setar, Malaysia — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Marufish from Alor Setar, Malaysia — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Marufish from Alor Setar, Malaysia — CC BY-SA 2.0 · CK Tan — CC BY 3.0
The royal audience hall of the sultans of Kedah, at the heart of the historic square in central Alor Setar. Its origins go back to the founding of the city in 1735, when Sultan Muhammad Jiwa built an audience hall within his palace complex; it was later destroyed in invasions and rebuilt in 1898 in the same form. Its architecture blends Thai and Malay styles, with a tiered tiled roof rising to pointed ornaments at its ends, slender cast-iron columns in the European manner and a curving double staircase at the entrance. It is set in a garden behind a yellow and green fence in the state's colours. The hall is still used for official royal ceremonies, such as the installation of sultans and their birthday celebrations, so it is generally not open to visitors, and a visit means seeing and photographing it from outside. In 1904 it hosted a famous royal wedding of five of the sultan's children whose celebrations lasted for months. It shares one square with the Balai Nobat, the Zahir Mosque and the Kedah Royal Museum, so you can see them all on foot within an hour, with the Alor Setar Tower rising close by.
A tiered tiled roof.
Cast-iron columns.
Where sultans are installed.
The royal square in central Alor Setar, next to the Balai Nobat and the Kedah Royal Museum
Kedah Royal MuseumAn old royal palace known as Istana Pelamin, the wedding palace, completed in 171 minute walk
Balai NobatAn elegant three-storey octagonal tower in yellow and white, crowned by a golden2 minutes walk
Kedah State Art GalleryAn art gallery in a handsome historic building on the royal square in central Al2 minutes walk
Zahir MosqueKedah's state mosque and one of the oldest and most beautiful mosques in Malaysi2 minutes walk
Alor Setar TowerA 165.5-metre telecommunications tower, the tallest structure in Kedah and the t6 minutes walkThe octagonal Balai Nobat, the black-domed Zahir Mosque and the Kedah Royal Museum, all a few steps from the Balai Besar.