The Long History of Baiturrahman Great Mosque

The Baiturahman Mosque in Banda Aceh, Nangroe Aceh Darussalam province, has a very long history. The story of Baiturrahman is contained in a thin book published directly by mosque managers.

Baiturrahman Mosque is a state mosque located in the heart of Aceh's special region. In the book mentioned that the mosque was founded Sultan Iskandar Muda in 1612 (1022 Hijri). In other words, the age of this mosque has now reached 404 years.

However, in other narrations mentioned that who founded this mosque is the time of the era of the Kingdom of Aceh led by Sultan Alaidin Mahmudsyah in 1875 (1292 Hijri). Unfortunately, this mosque was then burned down due to attack of Dutch troops in his expedition in April 1873 (Safar 1290 Hijriyah).

Four years after the mosque burned down, in mid-March 1877 (Safar 1294 Hijri) the mosque was then rebuilt in the same location. Development became the responsibility of Governor General van Lansberge who continued General van Sweiten's pledge. The statement was later announced after a consultation with heads of state around Banda Aceh given the importance of the plan.

The construction of the mosque was carried out by Major Vander as the Aceh Military Governor at that time. Laying the first stone of its construction was done on October 9, 1879 (13 Shawwal 1296 Hijriah) by Tengku Qadhi Malikul Adil. The process of building the mosque was then commenced in 1881 with only one dome. At that time, the mosque was named Masjid Raya Kutaraja.

Expansion and reshuffling continue to be done along with increasing congregation and capacity limitations. Recorded several times the process of reshuffle occurred in the mosque Baiturrahman. One of them was in 1935, 1975, 1981, and 1991.

The process of reshuffling in 1991 to 1993 was the most phenomenal. At that time, the expansion of the mosque to the extent of the mosque to be 3760 square meters using Italian-made marble floor. The expansion can accommodate up to 8,000 pilgrims. In addition, the addition of dome up to 7 pieces, 4 towers, and 1 parent tower outside the mosque building.

Outside of the mosque area, the court has an area of up to 4 hectares and has a pool. Parts of it are grass. Of course the apparition is now invisible because when done renovation back. The difference, this year's reshuffle is only done on the yard of the mosque, not in the area of the mosque.