Sultan Mosque

Sultan Mosque, known in Malay as Masjid Sultan, is the principal mosque of Kampong Gelam, at 3 Muscat Street in the Rochor planning area, and was formerly the royal mosque of the Sultan of Johor. The first mosque here was built between 1824 and 1826 with funds from the East India Company, following the 1824 treaty with the Sultan. The present building was designed by the Irish architect Denis Santry of Swan & Maclaren, begun in 1928 and completed in 1932, and the mosque was gazetted as a national monument in 1975. Its two-storey prayer hall holds up to 5,000 worshippers.

Two golden onion domes crown the eastern and western ends of the prayer hall, each ringed at its base by a band of glass bottles. Walk-in visitors may tour the permitted areas on their own from Saturday to Thursday, 10am to 12pm and 2pm to 4pm, and the mosque is closed to visitors on Fridays. The main prayer halls may be entered only with a mosque official. Men need sleeved tops and long trousers; women need long-sleeved tops and bottoms reaching the ankle, and nothing see-through. Robes are lent at the counter on a first-come basis, and footwear comes off before entering. Bugis MRT station is a short walk away, and Haji Lane and Arab Street are just behind the mosque.