Malé Old Friday Mosque (Hukuru Miskiy)

About this place

The oldest and most ornate mosque in the Maldives, in the heart of the capital, Malé. It was built between 1656 and 1658 under Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar I, on the site of an earlier mosque raised in 1153 by the islands' first Muslim sultan after his conversion, and it has been in use for prayer ever since. Its walls are made of coral stone blocks, cut while soft and wet, which then dry hard; the blocks lock into one another by joinery alone, and the mosque counts among the finest coral stone buildings in the world. In 2008 UNESCO placed it, together with other coral stone mosques of the Maldives, on its Tentative List for World Heritage. Inside are a stepped, decorated ceiling, carved panels with Quranic inscriptions and traditional lacquerwork by local master carpenters. Beside the mosque rises a round blue-and-white minaret built in 1675, surrounded by an old cemetery of carved coral tombstones: pointed tops for men, rounded ones for women, gilded inscriptions for royalty, and small family mausoleums with decorated walls. The visit is free, and the mosque, minaret and cemetery can be seen from outside. Non-Muslims need permission from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to go in, per visitor guides, which may be given on the spot to modestly dressed visitors outside prayer times. Opposite the mosque is the tomb of Abu al-Barakat Yusuf al-Barbari, credited with bringing Islam to the Maldives in 1153.