Coral stone and sultans: Malé’s history and heritage

About Coral stone and sultans: Malé’s history and heritage

By the ULTIMATE the Maldives Editorial Team

Site Editor: Tara de la Motte

Malé is one of the most densely built capitals anywhere, but behind the traffic lie centuries of seafaring, faith and craftsmanship. Here is the back story, and where to see it on foot.

A crossroads of the ocean

The Maldives sits in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and UNESCO notes that it was once famous for the cowry-shell trade and as a stop for seafarers crossing between East and West. Its first settlers came from India, Sri Lanka, East Africa, Arabia, Persia and the western Malay Archipelago. Visit Maldives says the islands were populated well over 2,500 years ago, and Dhivehi, the national language, is an Indo-Aryan language with roots in Sanskrit.

The Maldives was Buddhist before it converted to Islam around 800 years ago, according to Visit Maldives, which notes that Meedhoo in Addu was among the first islands to adopt the new faith.

Coral stone and timber were the only lasting materials, and the islanders turned them into art.

Coral-stone mosques

With only coral stone and timber to build with, Maldivians became master stone-carvers. Blocks were cut from live coral while soft and then air-dried, a technique that UNESCO says goes back to the Buddhist period and lasted until masonry arrived in the late 18th century. Six coral-stone mosques survive, and together they are on UNESCO’s Tentative List.

The greatest is Malé’s Hukuru Miskiy, the Old Friday Mosque, completed in 1658 after two years’ work under Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, on the site of the country’s first mosque. Its interlocking coral walls are carved in detail, and inside it is famous for its lacquer work and woodcarving. Nearby, the Eid Mosque was rebuilt in 1815.

Script and chronicles

Thaana, the Maldivian script, was developed from Arabic numerals around the 16th century, Visit Maldives explains. The oldest historical writings found in the country are the Isdhoo Loamaafaanu, copper plates once kept at the Old Mosque on Isdhoo in Laamu Atoll.

A national hero

Sultan Mohamed Thakurufaanu, who ruled from 1573 to 1585, is remembered as the hero who ended Portuguese rule. His childhood home, Utheemu Ganduvaru, still stands on Utheemu in Haa Alif Atoll, where the National Centre for Cultural Heritage runs a memorial centre to him.

Malé today

A third of all Maldivians live in Malé, according to the 2014 census quoted by Visit Maldives. The National Museum, opened on 19 November 1952 as the country’s first, holds stone carvings, early Thaana panels and royal artefacts. The Grand Friday Mosque, opened in 1984, is the largest in the country, and the old fish market shows the city’s working heart.

Visiting

Malé is easy on foot, and the museum, Hukuru Miskiy and the fish market are close together. Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, and remember that mosques are places of worship: avoid prayer times, ask before you enter, and expect the city to be quiet around Friday prayers. The museum’s official hours are Saturday to Thursday, 10.15am to 4pm.

Our advice: start at the National Museum for the story, walk to Hukuru Miskiy to see the coral carving, and end at the fish market as the boats come in.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Coral stone and sultans: Malé’s history and heritage before you go.