Khoo Kongsi

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  • 09:00 - 17:00

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A kongsi is a clan house, a building that's partly a temple and partly a meeting hall for Chinese of the same clan or surname. Penang has many kongsi, but the clan house of the Khoo is by far the finest and is not to be missed.

Work began in the 1890s, and was so magnificent and elaborate that nobody was surprised when the roof caught fire on the night it was completed in 1901; the misfortune was put down to divine jealousy of the ostentatious design, so the Khoo rebuilt it in a marginally less extravagant style. The present kongsi, which dates from 1906, is also known as the Dragon Mountain Hall. It's a wildly colourful mix of dragons, carved columns, lanterns, paintings and ceramic tiles, while at ground level there is an exhibition on the lineage of the Khoo clan.