Wapauwe Old Mosque is a historic mosque in Kaitetu village, a village in the Wawane Mountains on the north part of cape Keitetu, North Maluku, Indonesia. Established in 1414, it is the oldest mosque in the Moluccas and possibly the oldest mosque in Indonesia which has been maintained in its original state.DescriptionWapauwe Mosque is located in the historic village of Kaitetu where remnants of Portuguese buildings lie such as a Portuguese church and a Portuguese trading post which later reestablished by the Dutch as a fort. The humble-sized wooden mosque is maintained by both the Christian and Muslim community of the village. The 15th century mosque has been maintained by keeping its original wooden form, using no nails but tied with ijuk fiber ropes.HistoryThe first Wapauwe Mosque was established in Kampung Wawane, about 6 kilometers from its present place, in 1414. Its founder, Maulana Kiai Pati, was an Islamic proponent from the coast of Nukuhaly, Seram Island. This original mosque is constructed of sago frond walls and palm leaf roof. Kiai Pati converted five villages in the Wawane Mountains, namely the villages of Essen, Wawane, Atetu, Nukuhaly and Tehala. In 1464, another group of Muslims led by Kyai Jamilu from the Sultanate of Jailolo, west of Halmahera in North Maluku. Jamilu continued the maintenance of the Wawane Mosque during his preach in the village, as well as redeveloping the building into a larger mosque.The Dutch arrived in early 17th-century and controlled Wawane. To avoid tension with the Dutch, in 1614 Imam Rijali, a descendant of Jamilu, led the exodus of the villagers to the village of Tehala, about 6 km east of Wawane. During the exodus, the Wawane Mosque was dismantled and transported to the new place. The mosque was reconstructed on a plain where many wild mango trees grow. The mosque then received its present name Wapauwe Mosque, after the mango (wapa means "wild mango", and uwe means "tree" in local Kaitetu language). Nowadays, some locals believe that the mosque moved magically by itself to Wapauwe.