Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Jewish Cemetery, Penang

I visited the Jewish Cemetery few weeks ago. Perhaps the Jewish Cemetery in Penang is the only known Jewish Cemetery in Malaysia. Strong cast iron gates marked with the words "Jewish Cemetery" guard one's entrance to the cemetery. The gates are closed but will be opened upon request.

The magnificient tall building in the background is none other than KOMTAR.

The Jewish Cemetery is very well taken care off by the caretakers. There are tombs of different interesting shapes and sizes. The tombs have been shaped to resemble ossuaries.

The Triangular-shaped Tombs. There are houses and shoplots next to the cemetery.





Broken stones with partially visible inscriptions..

At first glance, these tombs look like cows (I mean the wet cement patches on the tomb).

One of the older tomb, dated back to 7 March 1876.


The photo shooting session ended prematurely cos of the sudden heavy downpour. AFAIK, the earliest grave dated back to 1835, but too bad I didn't manage to take a snapshot of that grave cos of the heavy rain.

33 comments:

Fantasy "Sticky" Flier said...

reminds me of some of the graves and tombstones ate Fort Canning Park in Singapore...

rainbow angeles said...

chup! liuliu cemetery??
*bite fingernails*
*goes and mandi first*

Anonymous said...

Interesting.. didn't know got this Jewish cemetery wor.

It's umm.. real rite? I mean, got dead bodies inside rite? *shudder*

And got people visit that cemetery wan ar? Looks pretty clean.

Chen said...

FF,
I've never been there before :) I only went to Singapore once, and that was 19 years ago :D

angel,
bite fingernails?
huh? u sked ah? :P

butt,
Not everyone in Penang knows about the existence of this Jewish Cemetery too :)

Aiyak, of course this is real cemetery lah.. The caretaker really take good care of the graveyards. That's why the place is so clean :)

a^ben said...

aiyo in chen` memang siaw liaw` hahahah

Chen said...

SA,
That was in the past :) This Jewish Cemetery is well preserved by the Malaysian Government. The latest grave was dated back to 1970's. I doubt there are any Jews who hold the Malaysian citizenship now.

ben,
aiseh.. u scared looking at the cemetery ah?
or issit taboo to u? :P

Anonymous said...

so this jewish cemetery is wholly taken care & preserved by malaysia government & not owned or visited by anybody??? how interesting ... i'm sure there are historical stories behind these cemetery.

Winn said...

is this where vampires live?

Anonymous said...

looks very interesting, despite it being a cemetery. as long as it doesn't have overshaded trees where you don't know what's lurking behind... eek!

iml said...

Never knew of it's existence till now. So stark. Void of any greenery.

Pink Cotton said...

WOW!..
never seen a jewish cemetery before..heheeh

y'know?the one that looks like cows...at first glance, i tot it looks like swiss rolls! 'x'!!!!

Redsponge said...

scared.

pinkcotton make me read news on the exhibition of the REAL mermaid and jins and so on...

now read ur blog on cemetery...

I hope I wont have nightmare tonight.

pha pha er...

lol

But how come the tombs looks like located at balcony of a building??!!

domesticgoddess said...

born and bred on this island, i never knew there is a Jewish cemetery!! *hangs head in shame*

Wilson Chin said...

nice review on the cemetery Doc, it helps me gain some knowledge on how other tombs looks like ;)
cause i dont think kuching have this kind of tombs

Chen said...

slurp,
this jewish cemetery is well conserved. On further thought, the preservation might not be done by the Msian Government but by some other organization. I need to check and read up on that. The gate is locked all the time but will be opened upon request, provided the caretaker is around.

winn,
This Winnliuliu always come up with great ideas... LOL

may,
The Jewish Cemetery definitely looks better than the chinese cemetery. At least one won’t feel scared when visit this place. Too bad it started raining half way.. Only managed to take 150+ picture.

Talking about overshaded tree, hahaha.. there are several few hundred years old tree in Penang, including our hospital staffs’ car park. I guess these trees are “possessed”...

day-dreamer said...

Wah... they allow you to snap snap snap inside??

Chen said...

iml,
Oh, u didn’t realize about the Jewish Cemetery as well? It is located at the town area.
Previously there were grasses on the ground of the graveyard. Looks nicer with the green colour. Only lately they renovate the place and fill the ground with concrete and cement.

pinkcotton,
swiss roll? Walao.. I guess u haven’t have your breakfast yet? LOL

redsponge,
aiyak, this jewish cemetery is not scary lah.. I have posted photos on chinese cemetery not long ago..
hahah, u want to have a look on that? But I think u won’t :P If u want, u can click here.

The cemetery is located in the town area, so u can see houses, apartments and shoplots nearby :)

Chen said...

domestic goddess,
Hahha, don’t worry. Many Penangites are unaware of it’s existence. U want to pay this place a visit?

wilson,
Yeah, this is indeed different from what we normally see. Something different and something unique.

day dreamer,
Why not? U can always take pictures inside. No pantang larang here. I took hundred plus picture inside leh.. If not becos of the rain, I will take more pictures :D

Anonymous said...

Cemetary again ah
....
covers head with blanket

cooknengr said...

whats up doc, try to outblog my toilet post? :)

Fantasy "Sticky" Flier said...

Eh so close and yet so far for you. Go go visit SG, I'm sure lots of bloggers there more than happy to give guided tour!

Chen said...

zeroimpact,
pulling boiboi out from his hiding place --> under the blanket :p

cooknengr,
Hahha...your toilet posts are the “独一无二” post. No one can beat you on that :)Everytime I visit a toilet (besides my own toilet at home), I will think of your toilet posts...
Your toilet posts are indeed very influential...

Talking about toilet reminds me of a special toilet picture I took in Hatyai.. I will send it to you via email :)

FF,
yeah, although so nearby, I only went there once... and yet I travel so many times to other far away countries :D I will pay Singapore a visit very soon.. might be end of the year..

Jellyfish said...

must snap at nite ma...
no ghost photo no fun 1, kekekeke

Chen said...

jellyfish,
snap at night?
wah... u wanna snap orbs ah? :P

Anonymous said...

Took 100 over pics?? Wah.. then got special pic or not? As in, can see 'something' else is there besides the tombs..

*spot something familiar*

Eii jellyfish!! You're back!! ^^

Chen said...

butt,
100 over consider very little liao :P
Didn't see anything "special" woh..

u know jellyfish?
He is my KSL :D

Chen said...

SA,
Might be I should interview the older generations to have a clearer view on the details :)

_butt said...

Yep.. well, used to read his blogs last time lo.. really enjoy his great pics.. tht is before he tetiba retired lah.. haha

KSL??

Chen said...

butt,
KSL = kai sai lou = 契细佬 = adik angkat :P So, jellyfish is my KSL, I'm his KJ :D

_butt said...

Oic... so, u = KJ = kai jeh = butt = smart = rite?

:P

Wow. It's a small small blogosphere after all eh? *haha*

Chen said...

butt,
LOL at your equation :D Manyak complicated...

u = KJ = kai jeh = butt = smart = rite

I know about the u = KJ = kai jeh,
abuthen hoh.. apa pasal got butt = smart = rite pulak? okie okie, u r smart loh.. hahhaha..

I encouraged him for long time liao initially to start blogging before he finally started.. :)

KittyCat said...

Wow - this is pretty cool! Never knew of this place in Penang either. Is it near St. Xavier's Institution?

Chen said...

kittycat,
hehhee.. u also don't know about this place? ;) It is not located near St Xavier institution. There's a cemetery nearby there different cemetery.

Regarding the location of the Jewish Cemetery, I can't remember the name of the road (I know how to go around but I never bother to look at the road name, hahaha... ). It's either in Jalan Zainal Abidin or Lorong Madras..