Masjid Tiban (the Magic Mosque)

This enormous building is equal parts museum, mosque, boarding house, and tourist attraction. Intensely detailed Islamic architecture envelops this colorful ten-story building, which houses different rooms as varied as aquariums, restaurants, prayer rooms, cages of wild animals, vegetable gardens, and an antique Javanese-style dining room. Trees grow from the ground level through each floor up to the top. The roof appears to be made out of wooden ship hulls, and the very top of the building provides incredible views of the leafy surrounding area. 

Most locals believe this it was built in just one night by a few men with the help of a divine creator or creators known as jinn. Jinns (or genies, in English) are supernatural beings from Islamic mythology. If you ask around the area, locals will tell you that the building simply appeared over night, that no one ever witnessed any construction equipment, and that it was built with the help of magic - thus, the name “Magic Mosque.” 

It appears that this building originally started as an Islamic boarding house (pesantren in Indonesian) and was built up by followers over time. The massive complex is not yet finished. Many parts of the complex are still under construction, as you will see cement blocks, iron rods, and bags of sand lying around.