Balai Nobat Alor Star

Balai Nobat, Alor Setar (2 August, 2015)


Balai Nobat (GPS: 6.12099, 100.3666) is a ceremonial tower in Alor Setar used to house instruments for playing nobat, the dirge for royal ceremonies. Among the instruments are the serunai, a wind instrument resembling the clarinet; the nafiri, a type of long trumpet; gendang, a drum in the form of a hollow cylinder with parchment stretched over its open sides; and the gong.

The original Balai Nobat was built during the reign of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Mukarram Shah, who reigned from 1854 to 1879. It had five floors and was constructed of stone and metal. During the renovation in 1906, it was reduced to three storeys. The Balai Nobat is topped with an Islamic-style dome.

The present Balai Nobat is the third structure of its kind, built during the reign of Sultan Abdul Hamid, having been reconstructed twice before.

Balai Nobat, Alor Setar (2 August, 2015)

How to go to Balai Nobat

Balai Nobat is located along Jalan Pekan Melayu, just a short distance from Balai Besar, and across the road from Bangunan Jam Besar, the Clock Tower in the middle of the city of Alor Star.

Balai Nobat is on the Map of Alor Setar

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

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

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While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware.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.

To get to know me better, do follow me on Facebook!