Jama Mosque


This impressive 1859 building – the oldest mosque in Sittwe – could have been lifted out of the pages of Arabian Nights. Sadly, since the 2012 sectarian riots, it's been strictly off limits, with barbed wire and armed guards preventing access (photography of the exterior is also discouraged), and has fallen into a state of disrepair. But its impressive white minarets still poke above the trees and the wall that surrounds it.


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Nearby attractions

1. Rakhine State Cultural Museum

0.05 MILES

This museum is grand looking from the outside, but much less so inside, and features two floors of dusty Rakhine cultural goodies. On the 1st floor are…

2. Old Clock Tower

0.17 MILES

Sittwe's old clock tower is more notable than its newer counterpart and is close to the market.

3. Fruit Bat Trees

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Hundreds of noisy fruit bats migrate from these trees on Main Rd every evening at dusk, having spent the day jostling with crows for space in the trees…

4. Central Market

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Focused on the 1956 municipal market building, Sittwe's market has lots of action from dawn to noon and beyond – it’s well worth popping by before your…

5. Rice Market

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A few blocks north of the main market is the Rice Market, with tiny lanes between the Kaladan River and Strand Rd filled with simple wooden homes where…

6. New Clock Tower

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Sittwe's newish clock tower sits at the southern end of Main Rd.

8. Shwezedi Kyaung

0.5 MILES

Partly housed in a picturesque, ramshackle colonial-era building on a backstreet, this was the monastery of U Ashin Ottama (1880–1939), a leader of the…