The Sat Gambuj Mosque () is a

Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

and tomb complex, located near the northwestern outskirts of

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

in the Mohammadpur area, in the

Dhaka District Dhaka District () is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in central Bangladesh, and is the densest district in the nation. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, rests on the eastern banks of the Buriganga River ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. The mosque is a fine example of the provincial

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

style architecture introduced in the 17th century in what is now Bangladesh. The mosque's most notable features are its seven bulbous domes crowning the roof and covering the main prayer hall. The monument stands in a romantic setting on a buttressed bank overlooking an extensive

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

. The mosque dates from the reign of

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

, and may have been built by the Mughal governor

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (b. 22 November 1600 – d. 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal. He was maternal uncle to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan ini ...

History

The mosque was built during the rule of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, and is one of several mosques in Dhaka dating to his reign. Its construction is traditionally attributed to Shaista Khan, Mughal governor of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

in the period 1678–1684; however, there are no inscriptions on the structure that attest to this.

Architecture

Picturesquely situated on the edge of a river, the Shat Cumbuj Mosque's exterior is the most innovative of all the Dhaka Mughal-period

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

s. The north and south ends of this three-domed rectangular mosque are each marked by two enormous double-storied corner pavilions; when viewed from the east these give the impression that the mosque has five exterior bays. On the east are three cusped entrances arches flanked by shallow niches. Slender engaged columns with bulbous bases demarcate the central bay (as seen as the

Lalbagh Fort The Lalbagh Fort () is a historic fort situated in the old city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its name is derived from its neighbourhood Lalbagh, which means Red Garden. The term Lalbagh refers to reddish and pinkish hues in the Mughal architecture. Th ...

Mosque, although this mosque's colonettes are more prominent). Its interior compares favourably with that of others dating to the second half of the 16th century. The central

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

has two rows of cusping, and its surface is embellished with moulded plaster relief, recalling the ornateness of the mihrab in the mosque of Haji Khwaja Shahbaz.Michell, George, ''The Islamic Heritage of Bengal'', pg 61, UNESCO, , published in 1984 Interior of Sat Gambuj Mosque

References

External links

* * {{Mosques in Bangladesh 17th-century mosques in Bangladesh Mausoleums in Bangladesh Mosque buildings with domes in Bangladesh Mosques completed in the 1680s Mosques in Dhaka Mughal mosques Religious buildings and structures completed in 1684 Sunni mosques in Bangladesh

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links