Welcome to Malé, the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. It sits on the southern edge of North Malé Atoll, and with its people packed onto an area of just 1.9 square kilometres, it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. This was once the King's Island, a walled city called Mahal, from which the old royal dynasties ruled. Islam has shaped the city since 1153, when the Maldives converted from Buddhism, and its mosques reflect that history. In recent decades the island has grown considerably through land reclamation. Let us explore its mosques and its national museum.
Malé Friday Mosque
Photo: Zairon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBefore you stands the Old Friday Mosque, completed in 1658 and the oldest and most ornate mosque in the Maldives. Its walls are built from coral boulders found throughout the archipelago. Here is the clever part: the coral is soft and easily cut when wet, yet it dries into sturdy building blocks. The craftsmen assembled the building using only interlocking pieces, and it is counted among the finest coral stone buildings in the world. It survived when much of old Malé was remodelled after the end of the monarchy.
King Salman Mosque
Photo: LittleT889 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsOn the eastern side of Malé, close to the Artificial Beach, rises the King Salman Mosque. With room for 10,000 worshippers, it is one of the largest mosques in the Indian Ocean. It was planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the independence of the Maldives, and it is named after King Salman of Saudi Arabia, whose kingdom helped fund it. Notice its five minarets, which represent the five pillars of Islam.
Islamic Centre
Photo: Rhalu7 · CC0 · Wikimedia CommonsLook for the large golden dome and you have found the Islamic Centre, officially named after Sultan Muhammad Thakurufaanu the Great. It was opened by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on 11 November 1984, two years to the day after he laid its cornerstone. Several Islamic countries helped to fund it, and a plate in the grand entrance records the names of their leaders in Dhivehi, Arabic and English. Its minaret rises 41 metres above the city.
National Museum
Step into the National Museum of the Maldives, opened on 11 November 1952. Its collection ranges from stone objects to fragments of royal antiquities, spanning the Buddhist era through to the rule of the Islamic monarchs. The old museum building stands in Sultan Park, on the site of the 17th-century Royal Palace compound. Look for the two-storey Us-gēkolhu: it is the only remaining structure of the palace, which was destroyed in 1968.
Lomakuume
