ISTIQLAL MOSQUE

As the country’s large muslim population, Indonesia has many beautiful mosques. Masjid Istiqlal (Istiqlal Mosque) is the biggest mosque in South-East Asia, made from alabastar marble. (Click here to see the mosque pictures). This mosque is located on the North-East corner of Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta on the historic Lapangan Banteng.
The name “Istiqlal” means “freedom” and the mosque can hold up to 250,000 people, but you usually won’t see that many people here except on the holiest days of the year – eid Fitr and Idul Adha/mubaroq. If you’ve never seen a mosque on the inside before, then this would be a good one to start with as the scale is truly huge. The mosque also provides facilities for social and cultural activities, including lectures, exhibitions, seminars, conferences, bazaars and programs for women, youth and children. If you do want to visit, remember to wear long pants.






Besides Istiqlal Mosque, Indonesia has a magnificent mosque that is located in Sawangan -Depok, South Jakarta, called Masjid Kubah Mas (Golden Dome Mosque). It takes 2 hours by car from Jakarta. Since it was opened for public, this mosque has been one of the favourite destinations and attracts lots of visitors. Everyday, you can see lots of people from Jakarta and outside Jakarta come to visit, by car or bus.