Forget Glow-Ups, This National Monument In Chinatown Has Looked Good For 190 Years

What is a National Monument? Who gazettes them? How many national monuments are there in Singapore? To date, the Preservation of Sites and Monuments, a division of National Heritage Board, has identified and gazetted 75 buildings, structures and sites of national significance as an integral part of Singapore’s built heritage.

And we're here to tell you all about them - one National Monument at a time!

You've probably passed by or stepped into more than a few of them without realising they were National Monuments: Al-Abrar Mosque, Asian Civilisations Museum, the Civilian War Memorial, Saint Andrew's Cathedral, the Esplanade Park Memorials, Fort Siloso on Sentosa - no need to plan an itinerary for friends visiting from overseas; just show them this article ✌️

In this edition, we take a look at one of the oldest mosques in Singapore, Jamae Mosque.

📍 Location

Jamae Mosque was the 13th building to be gazetted as a National Monument, and is located near other National Monuments such as Sri Mariamman Temple and Ying Fo Fui Kun. The MRT stations nearest to Jamae Mosque are Chinatown or Telok Ayer.

📅 Significant dates

Dates built:

• 1826: A mosque was first erected on the present site of Jamae Mosque
• 1830-1835: The current Jamae Mosque was built

Milestones:

• 1835: Jamae Mosque
• 1996: First repair works done
• 2022-2024: Restoration works done on the minaret, community plaza, classrooms, and more

Date gazetted: 19 Nov 1974

View of the mosque circa 1900. | IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/@PHOTOGRAPHER OF G.R.LAMBERT & COMPANY

📜 History

Tracing its origins back to 1826, Jamae Mosque is among the oldest mosques in Singapore. Built at 218 South Bridge Road, close to the landing point for many early immigrants, its tall minarets (the towers from which a muezzin calls the faithful to prayer five times a day) have stood as unmistakable landmarks along the busy street for almost two centuries.

IMAGE: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/@XIQUINHOSILVA

This distinctive pale-green mosque was the first of three mosques established in Chinatown by Tamil Muslims, also known as the Chulias. In the early 19th century, large numbers of Chulia immigrants from the Coromandel Coast in south-east India settled in the area, many working as traders or money changers.

Only seven years after Sir Stamford Raffles founded a trading post in Singapore, these settlers, led by Anser Sahib, erected the mosque. Between 1830 and 1835 it was expanded, gradually taking on the form that survives today.

The mosque is known by several names, each reflecting its place within the community. Worshippers commonly call it Masjid Chulia (Chulia Mosque), or in Tamil, Periya Palli (Big Mosque) and Chulia Palli (Chulia Mosque). Its most unusual nickname, however, is Paalkara Kadai Palli, which translates to the “Milkman’s Shop Mosque”, a reference to the many Tamils who, until the 1950s, could be seen milking their cows in the street just beside it.

So central was the mosque to the lives of the Chulia community that those without a permanent address often used it for their correspondence. It therefore became, informally, a postal collection point for many of Singapore’s earliest settlers.

By 1910, Jamae Mosque and two others were overseen by a group of trustees, before being placed under the Mohammedan and Hindu Endowments Board in 1917. Since 1968, it has been administered by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore or Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS).

📐 Design and architecture

The mosque’s design was the work of Irish architect George Coleman, best known for landmarks such as the Old Parliament House and Saint Andrew’s Church. Occupying a 4,809sqm site, it is a striking blend of Indian and European styles. While conforming to the street grid laid down by colonial planners, the mosque's prayer hall is oriented towards the qibla, the direction of Mecca, birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad in Western Saudi Arabia.

The building is most recognisable for its twin octagonal minarets, each topped with onion-shaped domes, hallmarks of South Indian Indo-Islamic architecture. Linking them is a four-tiered, palace-like façade above the main entrance, decorated with miniature doors and windows.

Step inside and one encounters timber double doors leading to the prayer hall, where rows of neoclassical Tuscan columns support the structure. Tall windows provide light and ventilation, their bases lined with green-glazed Chinese tiles. The mihrab, a curved niche indicating the direction of Mecca, sits beside the minbar or pulpit from which sermons are delivered.

Jamae Mosque endures as a remarkable heritage landmark, retaining much of its original form for nearly 200 years. Unlike many 19th-century places of worship, Jamae Mosque has largely resisted reconstruction. Though rebuilding was proposed several times – in 1897, 1911, and 1986 – the plans were never carried out. Instead, the mosque has been maintained through periodic repairs and repainting. Its original soft beige hue was replaced in the early 1990s with the pale green seen today, a colour strongly associated with Islam.

🕖 Opening hours

Regular visiting hours are 10am to 6pm on Saturdays to Thursdays, and 2.30pm to 6pm on Fridays.

🎟️ Admission

Entry is free. Find out more here.

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