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ARAB STREET & KAMPONG GLAM

Alsagoff Arab School Built in 1912, the school was named for Syed Ahmad Alsagoff, a wealthy Arab merchant and philanthropist who was very influential in Singapore's early colonial days and who died in 1906. It is the oldest girls' school in Singapore, and was the island's first Muslim school.
121 Jalan Sultan, across from Sultan Plaza.

Hajjah Fatimdh Mosque. Hajjah Fatimah was a wealthy businesswoman from Malacca and something of a local socialite. She married a Bugis prince from Celebes, and their only child, a daughter, married Syed Ahmed Alsagoff, son of Arab trader and philanthropist Syed Abdul Rahman Alsagoff. Hajjah Fatimah had originally built a home on this site, but after it had been robbed a couple of times and later set fire to, she decided to build a mosque here and moved to another home.

Inside the high walls of the compound are the prayer hall, an ablution area, gardens and mausoleums, and a few other buildings. You can walk around the main prayer halls to the garden cemeteries, where flat square headstones mark the graves of women and round ones mark the graves of men. Hajjah Fatimah is buried in a private room to the side of the main prayer hall, along with her daughter and son-in-law.

The minaret tower in the front was designed by an unknown European architect and could be a copy of the original spire of St. Andrew's Cathedral. The tower leans a little, a fact that's much more noticeable from the inside. On the outside of the tower is a bleeding heart-an unexpected place to find such a downright Christian symbol. It's a great example of what makes this mosque so charming-all the combined influences of Moorish, Chinese, and European architectural styles.
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