Jami Mosque of Pontianak, Islamic prayer house in Pontianak, Indonesia.
The Jami Mosque of Pontianak is a prayer house with multi-tiered pyramidal roofs supported by belian wood posts and fitted with glass windows between roof sections that allow natural light to enter. The building stands on a raised platform and is positioned at the meeting point of two major rivers.
Syarif Abdurrahman Alkadrie reached the confluence of the Kapuas and Landak rivers on 23 October 1771 with fourteen boats and founded Pontianak, building a wooden mosque with thatched roofs beside his palace. His son Syarif Usman rebuilt it in Muharram 1827 and named it Abdurrahman Mosque in tribute to his father.
The mosque is also called Masjid Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman, after its founder, and its name honours his son Syarif Usman's tribute. It holds about 1,500 worshippers and fills for Friday prayers and Ramadan tarawih. A traditional fish market stands to the left of the entrance, and festivals such as the bangun sahur and the water carnival are held here.
The mosque stands on the west bank of the Kapuas River at its confluence with the Landak River, facing west, with a traditional fish market to the left of the entrance and the dense Kampung Beting settlement behind it. The prayer hall sits on a wooden platform about 50 cm above the ground, now set on a cement base. Friday and Ramadan tarawih prayers fill the hall with up to 1,500 worshippers, so time a visit outside those services.
Six belian-wood pillars stand inside the prayer hall, each about half a metre across; according to the Indonesian Wikipedia article, an adult's two arms cannot encircle one. The mosque's pulpit is carved to resemble a ship's deck, and calligraphy is painted on the ceiling boards to its left and right.
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