
Masjid Abdul Gafoor
National Monument mosque with a sunburst of twenty-five Quranic prophets above its entrance.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Masjid Abdul Gafoor in Singapore follows Shaik Abdul Gafoor bin Shaik Hyder, a colonial-era law clerk who became trustee of a small mosque endowment on Dunlop Street in 1881 and spent decades building shophouses to fund something permanent. Construction finally began in 1907, and you'll hear about the ornate sunburst carved above the entrance, a detail that stops even hurried walkers on the street below. Look up and start counting the names radiating from its center.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Masjid Jamae (Chulia)
National Monument mosque fusing South Indian and Neoclassical design, built by Tamil Muslim traders.
Sultan Mosque
Landmark nineteenth-century mosque with golden domes whose bases are lined with thousands of donated soy sauce bottle ends.
Leong San See Temple
Hokkien Buddhist national monument with an ornate ceramic-tiled roof of dragons, phoenixes, and immortals.
Thian Hock Keng Temple
Singapore's oldest Hokkien temple, built in 1839 on the former seafront as a thanksgiving shrine for arriving immigrants.
Cathedral of the Good Shepherd
Palladian-style National Monument whose name traces to a French martyr's final letter from Korea.
Sri Mariamman Temple
Ancient shrine where South Indian immigrants found shelter, work, and a goddess who cured the sick.