Tracing the Traces of History in the Dome of the Tsunami Mosque: A Story of Miracles in the Midst of Disaster.

Hi Steemian, on our trip this time we visited the "Tsunami Mosque Dome Historical Site". This site is located in Gurah Village, Peukan Bada District, Aceh Besar Regency, Aceh Province. This dome is one of the historical relics of the tsunami event that attracts attention, because the dome of this mosque was carried away by the tsunami waves that occurred on December 26, 2004 and was found about 2.5 kilometers from its original location, this is a very long distance for a solid object that heavy to be dragged from the location of the mosque where it originally was, now the dome of the mosque is a symbol of the power of nature as well as a miracle that is remembered by the people of Aceh to this day.

Gurah Village, which is the location of the historical site, is approximately 12 kilometers from Banda Aceh City. The journey from Banda Aceh to the location of this historical site can be reached in approximately 30 minutes by vehicle. The distance may vary depending on traffic conditions when heading to this location.
To enter the location of this site there is no ticket fee at all, free access for local and foreign tourists, only if we bring a four-wheeled vehicle we only have to pay a parking fee of Rp. 15,000 per car, and if we bring a two-wheeled vehicle maybe the parking fee is around Rp. 5,000 only, I think so.

The location of the "Tsunami Historical Site" is located in the interior of Aceh Besar Regency, and the location point is in the middle of the local village rice fields, and far from the homes of local residents. However, for me the location of this historical site is very interesting because it is flanked by beautiful natural scenery of hills beside it. with the presence of gurah hill beside it, which is part of the Barisan hill that starts from Padang, West Sumatra to the tip of Sumatra.

The existence of these Barisan hills can be an attraction for tourists who are thirsty for natural beauty, especially for those of us who like taking selfies or want to collect some pictures from beautiful corners of nature.

The area of ​​this historical site is not yet 100% complete, according to what I have seen there are still many empty spots of buildings, as seen in the picture, on the side yard there is only a footpath that reaches all corners of the site area, there is only a small prayer room as a place of worship for tourists who visit this place, while the others have not been realized in the form of buildings, in my opinion if the development has reached 100% this site will be even more interesting, and will not look empty like this.

This is the shape of the area and its buildings if we look at it from the latest satellite imagery, so far I have not been able to translate the meaning or intent of such a shape for the area of ​​this site, if we look at it from the shape it is a circular path to the corner of the area, and there are also four large circles that I do not know the meaning of, maybe if the construction has reached 100% then it will be easy for us to understand.

Well, regarding the mosque dome which is the symbol of the site, it made me curious when I looked closer, I was amazed, how could the large and heavy mosque dome move 2.5 kilometers away from its original location, what's more interesting, even though the mosque dome was carried away by the tsunami this far, its physical appearance is still very intact, none of the sides of the dome were destroyed.

According to information from the site guard or site guide, the dome of the mosque measuring 4X4 meters weighs up to 80 tons, even though it weighs that much it can be dragged by the tsunami waves up to 2.5 kilometers away. Previously, this dome was in a mosque located in LamTeungoh Village which is also in the same sub-district as the current location, namely Gurah Village. In fact, the mosque that used to be the place where this dome was located was destroyed by the tsunami waves at that time, but it was different with the dome, it was dragged for kilometers through residential areas and rice fields until it reached its current location.

The dome of the mosque that was carried away by the tsunami waves is now nicknamed the "Al-Tsunami Dome", and the location of this historical site is named the "Aceh Tsunami Dome", which is now a "Historical & Religious Site" that is very often visited by local and foreign tourists.

According to information from the site guide, the rice field area where the dome is located used to belong to local residents, and then the residents agreed to donate their land to be used as a historical site, while the prayer room next to the dome was donated by several Malaysian tourists who had visited this site when the site had very minimal facilities, regarding the maintenance and cleanliness of this place, local residents worked together to maintain or preserve the environment of this site.

In addition, local residents also form a working group by providing two-wheeled vehicle rental services for tourists who want to travel around this village, because this village also has the attraction of its mountain panorama for tourists who like the charm of mountain nature.

A beautiful concept for local residents, taking wisdom from a disaster to become a blessing in terms of improving the local economy.

The shape of the dome is round with a size of 4X4 ​​meters and consists of a number of small cavities in the shape of a mosque door, and we can enter the body of the dome and inside it is shaped like a large bubble like a ball, the entire dome is made of solid concrete, even the roof.

In terms of its physical appearance, it still looks sturdy and good, only in terms of the outer skin or paint, it may need to be renewed with new paint, because according to what I saw, a lot of the paint on the roof has peeled off, perhaps due to the long period of time.

But I am sure, all the shortcomings of the site will soon be resolved, so that this historical & religious site can be preserved for a long time, because according to the information I heard from the guide of this site, many people care about this place, especially tourists from Malaysia, they really enjoy religious tourism to Aceh and really care about places like this, for example, the prayer room next to this dome which was built thanks to donations from Malaysian tourists who visit this place. Hopefully in the future this historical site can develop more than before.

Thank you for reading my writing this time, I hope my travel stories to historical places like this can be useful and educational for all of you, see you in my next travel story.

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