Penang Floating Mosque, Modern mosque on the coast of Tanjung Bungah, Malaysia.
The Penang Floating Mosque is a modern prayer hall built on stilts along the coast of Tanjung Bungah, directly overlooking the Strait of Malacca. The facility includes a minaret and separate prayer spaces for men and women, with parking available nearby.
A small mosque was built at Tanjong Bungah in 1967 and enlarged in 1977 to hold 500 worshippers. With little land left to expand, construction of a new mosque on the sea began in 2003 at a cost of RM15 million. It opened to the public in January 2005 and was officially inaugurated on 16 March 2007 by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The mosque's name comes from its stilts: at high tide the water reaches the base and the building seems to float. It is a working mosque for the Muslim community of Tanjong Bungah, with prayer space for 1,500 worshippers, and non-Muslim visitors can see the minaret and the sea-facing prayer hall from the coastal road.
The site sits right along the coastal road and is easy to access by car. Visitors should plan their visit during high tide for the best visual effect and remember that modest dress is expected.
The mosque stands on stilts, not on a float, so it only seems to hover over the water at high tide. It was built to replace the small 1967 Tanjong Bungah mosque, which had been enlarged in 1977 for 500 worshippers but could not grow further for lack of land.
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