Malaysian mosques: between Malay tradition and spectacular modernism

Few countries have made their mosques such symbols of national identity as Malaysia. Since independence in 1957, every great mosque here has also been an architectural manifesto, blending Malay heritage, Middle Eastern influences and outright modernism.

The National Mosque, a manifesto of independence

Completed in 1965, Masjid Negara (the National Mosque) in Kuala Lumpur was conceived from the outset as the architectural symbol of a newly independent nation. Its main roof, an 18-pointed pleated umbrella, does not attempt to imitate a traditional dome: it evokes both a blossoming flower and the folding of a ceremonial Malay umbrella, while symbolically counting the thirteen states of the federation and the five pillars of Islam. Its slender, finned rocket-shaped minaret breaks radically with Ottoman or Mughal towers.

Putra Mosque, between lake and pink granite

In Putrajaya, an administrative city built in the late 1990s, the Putra Mosque pushes the blend of influences further: a dome and minaret inspired by Iran and Central Asia, but built from local pink granite and largely set upon an artificial lake, resolutely contemporary.

The Blue Mosque of Shah Alam, an outsized scale

Not far from Kuala Lumpur, the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Mosque in Shah Alam : nicknamed the "Blue Mosque" for its immense turquoise dome, one of the largest in the world : illustrates another trend: the race for gigantism, with a capacity sometimes exceeding 24,000 worshippers, backed by the resources of a regional oil-producing state.

A vocabulary specific to Southeast Asia

Before these grand official programmes arrived, Malay mosque architecture drew on a very different vernacular vocabulary: tiered tiled roofs, timber frames, Chinese and Indian influences carried by trade routes. This vernacular foundation has not disappeared: it can still be found in many small village (kampung) mosques, a counterpoint to the concrete and granite giants of the big cities.