Baiturrahman Great Mosque: The Beauty, Miracles, and Witnesses of Aceh History

With its bright white walls and majestic black dome, this glorious 130-year-old mosque is a beautiful building. This is where hundreds of people fled from the 2004 tsunami that almost flattened the whole city. At that time the tsunami was devastating, destroying every building, both old and new. This is a very important fact for the Great Mosque of Baiturrahman in the city of Banda Aceh. This mosque is more than a masterpiece of Islamic architecture in Indonesia, because it can survive the tsunami disaster seen by many as the direct intervention of the Creator.

The kingdom says that the mosque was first built of wood in 1621 under the leadership of Sultan Iskandar Muda. Some say this mosque was even built earlier in 1292 by Sultan Alaidin Mahmudsyah. During the Aceh war of 1873, the mosque was destroyed. Recognizing the value and importance of the aceh community, in 1879, Major General Vander, who was in charge of the Military General at the time, rebuilt the mosque as promised by Governor General Van Lansberge in 1877. Two domes were added again by the Dutch in 1936 and two other domes added by the Indonesian government in 1957.

Baiturrahman Great Mosque is located in downtown Banda Aceh. Marked by 35 m tall towers, 7 large domes and 7 minarets, Baiturrahman may be an example to other mosques in Indonesia and peninsular Malaysia; replacing the mosque with a multi-layered roof style.