Some impressive buildings front the town square. The open-sided Balai Besar (Royal Audience Hall) was built in 1898 and is still used by the sultan of Kedah for royal and state ceremonies, though it is not open to the public. Supported on tall pillars topped with Victorian iron lacework, the building also shows Thai influences in its decoration.
Next to the Balai Besar is the Muzium Di Raja , which served as the royal palace for the sultan and other members of the family from 1856. Besides housing paraphernalia of the royal family, it’s quite enjoyable to wander round the courtyard and admire the buildings.
At the southern edge of the square is the Balai Seni Negeri , built in 1893 as a courthouse. Although Kedah was not part of British Malaya at the time, the courthouse is still built in a distinctive, white-columned colonial style. Today it houses the State Art Gallery and displays a decent gallery of contemporary Malaysian art.
To the north, the Balai Nobat (Hall of Drums; 1906) is a striking octagonal tower topped by an onion-shaped dome. It’s the repository of the nobat (royal orchestra), principally composed of percussion instruments; the drums in this orchestra are said to have been a gift from the sultan of Melaka in the 15th century. It isn’t open to the public, and the instruments are brought out only on ceremonial occasions such as royal weddings.
Just behind the Balai Nobat is the High Court , a classical white colonial building erected in 1922.
The Kedah state mosque, Masjid Zahir , is one of the largest and most beautiful mosques in Malaysia. Built in 1912, it has a classical beauty, more of an apparition from The Thousand and One Nights than a smoothed-out modern Malaysian mosque. The building encloses the cemetery of Kedah warriors who fought the Thais in 1821. Behind the structure, in contrast to the secular High Court, is the religious syariah (sharia) court complex.
On the opposite side of the lane, the decorative clock tower , painted in the same yellow and white livery as the Balai Nobat, was erected in the early 1900s so that the muezzin at the neighbouring mosque would know when to call the faithful to prayer.
If the Petronas Towers weren’t enough for you in KL, the second-tallest tower in the country is the Menara Alor Star which, at 165.5m, is also the tallest structure in town. A glass-sided lift will take you to the observation deck for good views of Alor Setar and the surrounding countryside. There’s a revolving restaurant at the top, though it’s not always open.
