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Jameah Mosque / Jamia Mosque / Queen Victoria Mosque
Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, Western Cape

Martin Bergman TORSTENSON: Architect 1903 minaret

Date:1850 : 1903 : 1914 : 1932
Client:Cape Muslims
Type:Mosque
Style:Eclecticism : Islamic Traditionalist
Status:Extant

 


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Coordinates:
33°55'05.98" S 18°25'00.82" E Alt: 41m

The Jameah Mosque was the first Mosque which was specially granted land for a mosque site and hence is also known as the Queen Victoria Mosque as patronage of the British Crown. It is adjacent to the disused stone quarry where the First Jumuah (Friday Congregational Prayers) were read in 1790. It is the biggest Mosque in the Bokaap and the fifth oldest Mosque in South Africa. It is understood that the Jameah Mosque is known for having the First Jumuah read in a Mosque in South Africa.
(Information board outside Mosque)

It is the fourth mosque to be built in the Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, and the fifth in South Africa. It was preceded by the Uitenhage Mosque constructed in 1849. The largest mosque in the Bo-Kaap it was preceded by the Auwal Mosque, the Palm Tree Mosque and the Nural Islam Mosque.

The mosque had a timber minaret added in 1903 and when it was enlarged in 1914 to accommodate extra worshipers for the Hiempu a new minaret was added.

The minaret was again replaced and new entrance added in 1932.


Books that reference Jameah Mosque / Jamia Mosque / Queen Victoria Mosque

Davids, Achmat. 1980. The Mosques of Bo-Kaap - A social history of Islam at the Cape. Athlone, Cape: The South African Institute of Arabic and Islamic Research. pg 56-60, 63, 71, 85, 103, 106, 113, 130, 138-147, 159, 161, 167, 170