Sultan Abdul Samad Building
Copper domes, Moorish arches and a clock tower, best at night.
Haakon S. Krohn — CC BY-SA 3.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Marcin Konsek — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Marcin Konsek — CC BY-SA 4.0
At midnight on 31 August 1957 the Union Jack came down here and the flag of an independent Malaya went up for the first time, which is why the square is called Merdeka, independence. At one end stands a ninety-five-metre flagpole, among the tallest in the world, in front of a broad lawn that was once the cricket ground of the colonial Royal Selangor Club. The best thing about the square is the building facing it: the Sultan Abdul Samad Building, finished in 1897 in a Moorish-Indian style with copper domes, arches and a clock tower that recalls Big Ben. The building alone justifies the visit, and it looks its best at night, fully lit, its lights reflected across the grass. The square is free and always open, and you need no more than half an hour. Come early in the morning before the heat, or after dark for photographs, rather than at midday, when there is almost no shade. On 31 August it becomes the stage for the National Day parade and is crowded and partly closed. It is steps from Central Market and Chinatown, close to the Masjid Jamek light-rail station, and beside the historic Masjid Jamek at the meeting of the two rivers, the oldest mosque in the city.
Copper domes, Moorish arches and a clock tower, best at night.
Ninety-five metres on the spot where the flag first rose in 1957.
The city's oldest mosque at the river confluence, minutes away.
Jalan Raja, central Kuala Lumpur
Sultan Abdul Samad BuildingGleaming copper domes, horseshoe arches and a forty-one-metre clock tower: finis1 minute walk4.6
Sultan Abdul Samad Jamek MosqueThis is where Kuala Lumpur was born. At exactly this spot the Klang and Gombak r3 minutes walk4.5
Central Market (Pasar Seni)A pale-blue Art Deco building from 1937 that was once the city's fish and vegeta6 minutes walk4.5
Petaling Street (Chinatown)A street under a long green canopy, lined with stalls of bags, watches, clothes 8 minutes walk4.0
Sri Maha Mariamman TempleA twenty-two-metre gateway tower covered in hundreds of painted carved figures r9 minutes walk4.5Not on its own, but it is an essential stop on an old-town walk with Masjid Jamek, Central Market and Chinatown. Make it the last stop after dark to see the buildings lit.