Balai Besar Alor Star

Balai Besar, Alor Setar (2 August, 2015)


Balai Besar (GPS: 6.11991, 100.36648), or Great Hall, is a heritage structure in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. The original structure dates back to the founding of Alor Star in 1735, and was built by Alor Star's founder, Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Abidin (1710-1778), the 19th ruler of the Kedah Sultanate, as the Balai Rong Seri, or Audience Hall. I visited it while documenting the sights in Alor Star for AsiaExplorers.

The Balai Besar was destroyed and rebuilt a few times. It was brought down by the Bugis invasion of 1770, and the same happened in the Siamese invasion in 1821. The present structure dates back to 1893, during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah.

In 1904, the Balai Besar was the venue of a lavish wedding ceremonies for the Sultan's five eldest sons and daughters. The extravagant affair lasted three months, from June to September, and almost bankrupted the state.

The Balai Besar was also the venue of the installation of a new sultan, namely Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II (1804-1845) and Tuanku Sultan Haji Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah on 20 February 1959.

Balai Besar, Alor Setar (2 August, 2015)


Balai Besar, Alor Setar (2 August, 2015)

Balai Besar is on the Map of Alor Setar

How to go to Balai Besar

Balai Besar is located along Jalan Pekan Melayu, just face to face with Masjid Zahir, in the middle of the city of Alor Star.

Back to Discover Alor Setar mainpage; list of Historic Buildings in Alor Setar, Historic Buildings in Kedah and Historic Buildings in Malaysia

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.