Brunei - Tomb of Sultan Bolkiah

Sultan Bolkiah was the fifth Sultan of Brunei. He ruled the state when the country was at it's most powerful. It covered most of the northern part of Borneo and had a strong role in international relations. His tomb sits adjacent to the archaeological site I mentioned in an earlier blog entry. It's a very stately tomb, full of intriguing details.


It's rare that you can randomly wander through some bushes and come upon the tomb of a Sultan. It's even rarer for there not to be a guard on a duty and rarer still to be able to walk right up to it. I visited the tomb of Suliman the Magnificent in Istanbul a few years back and remember it being swarming in security. It's a good reflection of the two cultures. Bruneians are peaceful, relaxed folk, so the tomb is free to sit out in the open, safe from all harm.

The most striking feature of the tomb is the domed bronze roof. Sitting on top is the crescent and star of Islam. It sits at the edge of the hill and would have once directly overlooked the river. The view is now blocked, but the Sultan still sits, watching the world pass below.


You can tell when someone is important an a culture - everyone wants to be buried next to them. The Sultan is no different. The enclosure of the tomb is festooned with lots of other head stones. Some of them are elaborate carved affairs, others are simple wooden posts. The wooden ones are starting to succumb to the tropics. They now closely resemble a fence paling plunged into the earth.

I'm never quite sure when to take my shoes off around muslim monuments. To be respectful, I stayed well clear of the tomb and avoided walking on any of the paths. I hope that wasn't been more disrespectful. Luckily, I only had the ants and insects in the forest to notice. I did feel apprehensive at one stage though, as I had to walk between two headstones to follow a path. I apologised to the head stones. I'm sure they didn't mind.


In the enclosed garden next to the tomb is a rather lovely frangipani tree. It gave some shelter to the area as well as slinging flowers over all the tomb stones. Very picturesque.


The actual tomb itself was, as expected, very ornate. It was definitely showing it's age and looks like it has been pulled apart a few times. It's definitely well loved though and well maintained. I suspect it will be here for quite some time to come.

I'm glad I decided to do the walk back from the Museum. I had spotted this tomb in the taxi on the way up, so it was a good experience to walk in amongst the tomb of such a prominent Bruneian.