Pray where the Dutch let Muslims build, at Masjid Kampung Hulu
1728, no dome, pagoda minaret
A 1728 mosque on Jalan Masjid in Kampung Hulu, north of Jonker, still in use on its original site. Three-tiered hipped roof, pagoda-form minaret, and an old graveyard beside it.
Why it's unique
Masjid Kampung Hulu was built in 1728 and is the oldest mosque in Malaysia still in use on its original site. It went up under Dutch colonial administration, after the Portuguese had demolished every mosque in Melaka in 1511, which is a permission worth noticing on the ground.
It has no dome. It has a three-tiered Javanese hipped roof and a minaret that looks like a pagoda, because domes and pencil minarets were not yet the convention when it was built. That form repeats at Kampung Kling and Tengkera and nowhere much else, so seeing the three in one afternoon is the actual point of coming to this one first.
Before you go
The pagoda minaret is the giveaway that this is a Melaka-style mosque rather than an Arabian import, and the same form repeats at Kampung Kling and Tengkera.
Non-Muslims can enter outside prayer times, and the caretaker will usually show you the mihrab. Avoid the five prayer times and Friday midday, and cover up. The graveyard beside the mosque is older than most of the buildings in the UNESCO core.