A place for prayer

Like most people, one of the very first things I do when I visit or stay in a multistory building, like my new apartment block, is throw open the curtains to see what I can see. From my first morning here in Jakarta, nearly a fortnight ago now, I was captivated by the sight of a lovely cream and bronze mosque in the distance. Last weekend I got the chance for a closer look, and it lived up to its promise.

Despite being dwarfed by the surrounding skyscrapers, this elegant beauty more than holds its own.

Below is the view from my apartment. The building behind the mosque, Pacific Place, is a high-end shopping centre that I was interested in visiting. From my window, it seemed that there was a road leading directly to both destinations, but even from a distance, I should have twigged that no road in Jakarta has so little traffic. As I approached after crossing over the busy main road via a pedestrian overpass, I discovered that it was a private road carving straight through the centre of the huge police compound.

This mosque, like the pretty teal blue one in the grounds of the Tax Office that I posted previously, is a workplace mosque, in this case for the police.

The mosque is heavily ornamented, but because of the restrained colour palette, the overall effect remains classic and serene. And the sympathetic landscaping complements, without competing.

Look at the layers of decoration surrounding this stained glass window and its elaborate frame, starting from the ground up: a crazy paving/mosaic of slate(?), pink marble, geometric pattern, more marble, an arabesque design, more marble, brickwork, embossed marble and raised geometric design. 

Dracena draco

Phoenix roebelenii, Pygmy Date Palm

Allamanda 

One of the locals taking advantage of the cool marble veranda in the afternoon heat, under what looks like the hugest drum.