The Ministry of Arts, Heritage, and Culture will be holding a public forum to discuss a new location for the dismantled Kalhu Vakaru Miskiy, a coral stone mosque dating back to the 18th century.
The forum will be held at 8:45pm at the Rasrani Bageecha, formerly the Sultan Park although the city council has said that this name will be reinstated.
Several locations to reassemble the mosque have been put forth; such as the plot where the Dhiraagu head office was, near the Islamic Center, and near the Sinamalé Bridge.
The mosque has been relocated several times, having once been assembled at a local island resort after being auctioned off. The mosque was assembled at the Sultan Park during the tenure of Maldives’ longstanding president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The coral stone mosque, built in blocks so as to make dismantling without destorying easy, was removed in 2016 for development of the Sultan Park, which itself is a heritage site by virtue of being the personal leisure grounds for Maldivian royalty.
The park was reopened with recreational facilities and a ‘winter corner’; an ice rink having been built in the place of the mosque.
Finding and reassembling the mosque is one of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s first 100-day pledges.
