The Newsletter 72 Autumn 2015

On the origins of the Javanese mosque

Hélène Njoto

The architectural genesis of the ‘Javanese mosque’ has yet to be adequately studied. The earliest mosques date to the 15th-17th century transitional era from ‘Indianization’ to ‘Islamization’ in the wider Southeast Asian Archipelago. The most notable mosques are in Java, where some of the oldest remaining examples of Islamic material culture in Southeast Asia reside. Common