Royal rooms
The palace furnished as it was.
Muhamad Fadhli Ahmad — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Comelote — CC BY-SA 4.0
An elegant yellow palace built in 1939 under Sultan Ismail as a wedding gift for his nephew, the future Sultan Yahya Petra, who lived here until 1960. Other members of the royal family lived here after him, before it was given to the state government and turned into a royal museum that opened in 1991. Its name means the stone palace. The museum keeps the palace rooms as they were, from the drawing room, dining room and kitchen to the bedrooms and hallways, and displays the belongings of Kelantan's sultans, photographs, costumes, artefacts and furniture, giving an intimate glimpse of royal life in the twentieth century. A ticket for foreigners is about four ringgit; it opens from half past eight in the morning to a quarter to five and closes on Fridays. It stands next to Istana Jahar in the royal quarter, close to the nineteenth-century Istana Balai Besar, where royal ceremonies are held; that palace is not open to visitors, but its walls and gate are worth a look.
The palace furnished as it was.
Built for a future sultan.
Among Kota Bharu's old palaces.
The royal quarter of central Kota Bharu, next to Istana Jahar
Istana Jahar (Royal Traditions and Customs Museum)An elegant nineteenth-century timber palace in the heart of Kota Bharu's old roy1 minute walk
Muhammadi Mosque (State Mosque)Kelantan's state mosque and the most venerable mosque in Kota Bharu, first built1 minute walk
Kelantan Islamic MuseumA small museum in a two-storey timber building shaped like a mosque, its walls a2 minutes walk
War Museum (Bank Kerapu)A stone building put up in 1912 for Kelantan's first bank, the Mercantile Bank o3 minutes walk
Siti Khadijah MarketKota Bharu's central market and the best-known market on the east coast, in an o4 minutes walkNo: it is an official palace used for royal ceremonies and is not open to visitors, but its walls and gate can be seen from outside, a few steps from the museum.