Jamae Mosque - The Chulia Mosque

Jamae Mosque - The Chulia Mosque

Photo: Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

A stop on Singapore: Marina Bay to Chinatown, a free self-guided tour.

Before you reach the Chinese heart of Chinatown, look at the green-and-white gatehouse with two slender minarets. This is Masjid Jamae, also called the Chulia Mosque, founded in the 1820s by the Chulias, Tamil Muslim traders from southern India. Its main buildings were completed between 1830 and 1835, making it one of the oldest mosques in Singapore.

The design is a blend that feels very Singaporean. The entrance gate is South Indian in style, the prayer hall mixes Indo-Islamic arches with classical Doric columns, and some windows have glazed grilles in a local Chinese pattern. Behind the mosque is a small shrine to a Muslim holy man named Muhammad Salih.

The mosque was declared a national monument in 1974. It is an active place of worship: visitors can look from the entrance, but avoid prayer times, especially Friday midday, dress modestly, and remove your shoes if you are invited in.

Getting here: Continue upstream to the end of Boat Quay at Elgin Bridge, turn left onto South Bridge Road and follow it about 8 minutes; the mosque is on your right at Mosque Street.

Did you know?: Its Tamil name, Periya Palli, means roughly "big mosque," and the street beside it, Mosque Street, is named after it.

Photo op: From the opposite side of South Bridge Road, frame the gatehouse and both minarets with the shophouse row on either side.

More on Wikipedia: Masjid Jamae · Tamil Muslim · Chinatown, Singapore

Stops on this tour

  1. Merlion Park - Half Lion, Half Fish
  2. The Fullerton Hotel - Singapore's Old Post Office
  3. Cavenagh Bridge - Iron from Glasgow
  4. Asian Civilisations Museum - The Old Government Offices
  5. Raffles' Landing Site - Where Colonial Singapore Began
  6. Boat Quay - The Belly of the Carp
  7. Jamae Mosque - The Chulia Mosque
  8. Sri Mariamman Temple - Singapore's Oldest Hindu Temple
  9. Pagoda Street - From Coolie Trade to Street Market
  10. Chinatown Heritage Centre - Life in a Shophouse
  11. Buddha Tooth Relic Temple - A New Temple in Tang Style
  12. Maxwell Food Centre - Lunch, Hawker Style