Padang's oldest mosque
More than two centuries old.
Rahmat Irfan Denas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Nadia.yp — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rahmat Irfan Denas — CC BY-SA 4.0
Padang's oldest mosque and one of the oldest in Indonesia, begun in 1805 and finished around 1810 on the initiative of three of the city's notables and scholars, after the Dutch demolished the first mosque near the harbour to make way for a road. It is today a protected heritage building of West Sumatra. Its architecture blends three styles: European in the columned façade, Chinese in the tiered roof, which Chinese craftsmen are said to have helped build, and Middle Eastern in its ornament. Inside stand twenty-five hexagonal pillars, each inscribed with the name of one of the twenty-five prophets named in the Quran. The mosque withstood Padang's devastating 2009 earthquake with damage that was later repaired. Entry is free; it serves daily and Friday prayers, and non-Muslims visit outside prayer times in modest dress. Half an hour is enough, a natural stop on a tour of old Padang with the Siti Nurbaya Bridge and the old town on the Arau River.
More than two centuries old.
Twenty-five pillars named for the prophets.
European, Chinese and Middle Eastern.
Ganting district, eastern Padang
The first mosque stood near the Arau River and the harbour; the Dutch demolished it for a harbour road, so the townspeople rebuilt it in Ganting in the early nineteenth century.
