The Road Home: Stories of Royal Dreams, Exalted Tombs, and Merchants’ Mausolea of Singapura (Singapore Writers Festival tour)

The Road Home: Stories of Royal Dreams, Exalted Tombs, and Merchants’ Mausolea of Singapura

10 November 2018 / The Arts House

Royal burial grounds and old cemeteries speak volumes of the communities that lived before us. As part of Singapore Writers Festival Beyond, we teamed up with Imran Tajudeen, Assistant Professor at National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture who curated and hosted the sold-out literary tour, Stories of Royal Dreams, Exalted Tombs, and Merchants’ Mausolea of Singapura. A/P Imran led the voyage starting with Jalan Kubor cemetery which was declared full (hosting about 7000 graves!) by 1860s. The next stop is Hajjah Fatimah Mosque, the only remaining building from the former Bugis Town (Kampong Rocher) of Kampong Glam port town demolished in the 1970s. Next, we ventured to Keramat Habib Noh on Mount Palmer, situated in a forgotten quarter labeled as “Malay Town” in old maps. Habib Noh was one of the seven Islamic saints (wali) of Singapore whom many claimed to have been healed by. The final stop is Omar Kampong Melaka Mosque, the oldest traders’ mosque that was built in Kampong Melaka, a quarter along Singapore River that is now virtually forgotten. Central to the morning’s tour is Isa Kamari’s book 1819.