Kampong Gelam and Sultan Mosque

Kampong Gelam takes its name from the gelam tree, once used locally for boat-building, medicine and as a seasoning. In 1819 the Sultan of Singapore signed a treaty with the East India Company, and a palace compound was built between the Rochor River and Beach Road. Under an 1824 agreement, land beside the Istana Kampong Gelam was set aside for a royal mosque, and Sultan Hussein Shah built the first Sultan Mosque between 1824 and 1826, with Sir Stamford Raffles contributing to its building fund.

By the 1920s the original brick mosque was in poor repair, and the mosque's trustees commissioned architect Denis Santry to design a replacement. Work began in 1925, slowed during the global recession, and was completed by 1932. A ring of glass bottle ends, donated by poorer members of the community, decorates the base of each dome. The mosque was gazetted as a National Monument on 14 March 1975. Nearby Haji Lane once housed Muslim pilgrims preparing for the Hajj.

Sultan Mosque is a working community mosque as well as a landmark, and Friday prayers bring large congregations. The area remains a centre for Singapore's Malay and Muslim community, with Islamic bookshops, perfume sellers and religious goods shops alongside newer cafés. Ramadan and Hari Raya Aidilfitri are the high points of the year, when families come to shop, eat and pray together.