Heritage of George Town

One of the reasons why George Town was chosen as one of UNESCO World Heritage Site was the harmony in which the different houses of worship of different religions co-exist in a relatively small town. George Town was also said to have a unique architectural and cultural townscape without paralel anywhere in East and Southeast Asia.

During the glory days of the British Empire in South East Asia, George Town was one of the main ports of calls for many ships that shuffled between Great Britain and the East. As a result, George Town became a place where people from many parts of the world came to live. People as far away as China, the Indian sub-continent and the Arabian Peninsula arrived in Penang and eventually they would build their own house of worship.

One of the mosques that one would find in George Town was Masjid Kapitan Keling (roughly translated to Indian Captain Mosque). One of the unique things about this mosque was that the praying hall had no walls. 

The front of Masjid Kapitan Keling

The pulpit from where the Imam would deliver his sermons from.

The main praying hall; I took picture from the outside as the hall did not have any walls.

Another mosque that we visited was theMasjid Melayu (Jamek) Lebuh Acheh Pulau Pinang. It was built in 1808 as an endowment from Tunku Syed Hussein Idid.

It may look like a lighthouse, but it is actually one of the minarets of the mosque.

One of the entrances to the Main Praying Hall.

Chinese Temples were quite plentiful here as well. The temples were built by the different clans (or kongsi) and they would be built in the area where people from the same clan lived. The temples were mostly intricately decorated with sculpted stone figures from Chinese literatures and cultures, gold coloured pillars and their diety figures. Most of the temples would be contained within a compund in which one would find a big garden and a stage. Some of the temples would not be found on the main street; often you would go into the compund of the temple via a side street or a small lane between shophouses.

I'd highly recommend George Town as your next hoilday destination. Who knows how much you could learn from your travels?