A group of young people recently sat quietly in the yard of Baiturrahim Grand Mosque in Gorontalo city, one of the oldest mosques in the province.

Though they frequently gazed at the mosque, their eyes were often fixated on their drawing books as their pencils swiftly danced across clean sheets of paper. Once in a while, their pencils would stop, poised in mid air, as they observed their subject.

The people were members of Gorontalo Perupa (Goropa), an urban artists community that accommodates various artistic interests, including sketching, painting, drawing, caricature and even body painting. This Ramadhan, Goropa members have dedicated some of their time to sketching historic mosques in the city while waiting to break the fast.

'€œBesides killing time, we feel the need to reintroduce the history of each ancient or unique mosque in Gorontalo, including its architecture,'€ Goropa artist Mohammed Katili told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday afternoon.

Although the community was only established last year, it has attracted some 60 members from various backgrounds and professions. This month, they chose three days each week to visit and sketch a number of ancient mosques in the city between around 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.

They group has called the activity Burasa, an acronym that stands for ngabuburit sembari sketsa (waiting for the breaking of the fast while sketching). Burasa is also the name of a local food '€” steamed rice and coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves.

Mosque-goers preparing to break the fast and perform the dusk prayer could not help but be curious about the group of sketchers.

'€œAt first I thought they were youths who were just hanging around, but it turned out that they were sketching the mosque. This is interesting. Usually, this mosque has only attracted members of photography clubs,'€ said local resident Nurdin Amir.

Katili said the community chose Baiturrahim Grand Mosque as its first sketching site this week because, aside from having a long history, the mosque also served as an icon for the local community and was strategically located in the heart of Gorontalo city.

The mosque was built by King Botutihe who ruled the Batato Lo Hulondalo Kingdom in 1728. According to the official website of the Religious Affairs Ministry, Baiturrahim Grand Mosque was initially made of timber. In 1761, King Unonongo revamped it, making a stronger building with 80-centimeter thick bricks walls.

In 1938, a strong earthquake destroyed the mosque. Prayers and other religious activities were carried out in a makeshift building close to the mosque until 1946, when a renovation and expansion project was completed. The mosque went through another major overhaul in 1999 before being inaugurated on Oct. 13 of the same year by Indonesia'€™s third president Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie.

Bani Malabar, another Goropa member, said besides visiting historic mosques, the group also planned to visit some famous tourist sites, such as the Tangga 2,000 (2,000 Steps), located on the edge of Gorontalo Bay.

'€œWe want to capture the atmosphere of Ramadhan in places crammed with people. At Tangga 2,000, we can see the tomb of Ta Ilayabe, an Islamic missionary figure in Gorontalo, on the top of the hill,'€ said Bani.

He said the club welcomed newcomers to join their activities during Ramadhan. After all, he said, the only equipment they needed was affordable '€” a pencil and a drawing book.

'€œDon'€™t worry about sketching technique. The most important thing is having the passion to capture an object differently,'€ Bani said.

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