Sixty Dome Mosque
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "check for unknown parameters".Template:Wikidata image The Sixty Dome Mosque (Template:Langx), is a historical mosque, located in Bagerhat, in the Khulna Division of Bangladesh. It is a part of the Mosque City of Bagerhat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is the largest mosque in Bangladesh from the Bengal Sultanate period (1352
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Template:R protected1576). It was built by Khan Jahan Ali, the governor of the Sundarbans. It has been described as "one of the most impressive Muslim monuments in the whole of South Asia."[1] It situated is approximately Script error: No such module "convert". from the main town of Bagerhat;[2] and nearly Script error: No such module "convert". from Dhaka.[3] Despite its nomenclature, the mosque has 81 domes that are supported by sixty columns.
History
In the middle of the 15th century, a Muslim colony was founded in the mangrove forest of the Sundarbans, near the coast in the Bagerhat District by a saint-General, named Khan Jahan Ali. He preached in an affluent city during the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, then known as 'Khalifatabad'.[4] Khan Jahan adorned this city with more than a dozen mosques, the ruins of which are focused around the most imposing and largest multi-domed mosques in Bangladesh, known as the Shait-Gumbuz Masjid Script error: No such module "convert"..[4] The construction of the mosque began in 1442[4] and was completed in 1459. The mosque was used for prayers as well as a madrasha and assembly hall.
Architecture
The Sixty Dome Mosque features unusually thick, tapered brick walls in the Tughlaq style and a hut-shaped roofline that anticipates later styles. Its oblong plan measures Script error: No such module "convert". by Script error: No such module "convert". externally, and Script error: No such module "convert". by Script error: No such module "convert". internally.[5] There are 77 low domes arranged in seven rows of eleven, with an additional dome on each corner, bringing the total to 81 domes. There are four towers, two of four towers were used for the call to prayer (azaan). The interior is divided into many aisles and bays by slender columns, which culminate in numerous arches that support the roof.
The mosque has 77 squat domes with seven four-sided pitched Bengali domes in the middle row. The vast prayer hall, although provided with 11 arched doorways on east and seven each on north and south for ventilation and light, presents a dark and somber appearance inside. It is divided into seven longitudinal aisles and 11 deep bays by a forest of 60 slender stone columns, from which springs rows of endless arches, supporting the domes, each Script error: No such module "convert". thick, slightly tapering walls and hollow and round, almost detached corner towers, resembling the bastions of fortress, each capped by small rounded cupolas, recall the Tughlaq architecture of Delhi. The western wall features eleven mihrabs on the interior where ten are blind and the central one is projected on the exterior.[5] The mosque represents wonderful archeological beauty which was the signature in the 15th century.
Sixty domes or sixty columns
The mosque is locally known in Bengali as the 'Shat Gombuj Masjid', which means "Sixty Domed Mosque". However, there are 77 domes over the main hall and exactly 60 stone pillars.[2] It is possible that the mosque was originally referred to as the "Sixty Pillared Mosque"" where, in Template:Langx, later got corrupted in Template:Langx.
Gallery
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Side view of the mosque in 2007
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Southeastern view
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Side view
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Main entrance of the mosque
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Main cornered pillars
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Exterior of the mosque
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Inside of mosque
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Dome exterior of the mosque
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Dome interior of the mosque
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Mosque arches
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Mosque arches, exterior
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Mihrabs of the mosque
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Inside pillars
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Interior view in 2007
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Interior ceiling
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Back entrance of the mosque
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Mihrab arch of the mosque
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Outer wall of the mosque
See also
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- Islam in Bangladesh
- List of mosques in Bangladesh
- List of archaeological sites in Bangladesh
- List of World Heritage Sites in Bangladesh
References
External links
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- Pages with script errors
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- 15th-century mosques in Bangladesh
- Architecture of the Tughlaq dynasty
- Bengal Sultanate mosques
- Buildings and structures completed in 1459
- Mosque buildings with domes in Bangladesh
- Mosque buildings with minarets in Bangladesh
- Mosques completed in the 1450s
- Mosques in Bagerhat
- World Heritage Sites in Bangladesh