Banten Grand Mosque

Sultan Maulana Yusuf founded the grand mosque in 1566; it has a five-layered roof and an eight-cornered minaret. Around the mosque there is a market that sold some foods and Islamic souvenirs. For Muslim's pilgrimage this place is something important. But for architectures visit also something worth, beautiful minarets and several Old Dutch buildings in the same area.

The Sultan of Banten in the mid 1500's was busy as he transferred the wealth the city created as a city-port into bricks and mortar which we see a legacy of today. As well as the Palace he had this mosque constructed and he himself is buried in the grounds to the north. The base is rectangular while the 5 tiered roof hints at earlier Hindu influences. The eye-catching minaret looks like a lighthouse and is visible from much of the local grounds. Its construction date is unclear while some rumor has it being built by a Chinese Muslim again in the middle of the same century.