Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[name] => Dhuni Chawk Mosque
[post_id] => 6526
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/dhuni-chawk-mosque/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/dhonaichak-mosque-moshjid-bangladesh-11-300x188.jpg
[post_content] =>
This is known as Dhuni Chawk Mosque (ধুনি চক মসজিদ) and located at Shibganj (শিবগঞ্জ) of Chapai Nawabganj (চাপাই নবাবগঞ্জ) district of Bangladesh. Near the area of Sona Mosque (সোনা মসজিদ), there are few more archaic edifices available, this mosque is one of those.
This is a six domed mosque. It was completely dilapidated and only few walls were available. But the government totally renovated this mosque recently. There is no road available to reach near to the mosque. You have to walk through the mango garden and beside the fields. You have to rely on your GPS (24°49'54.71"N, 88° 9'1.17"E) device, or the local villagers to be you on the correct route.
No inscription was found near the mosque to know its age. The people who lived near the mosque at past were cotton carder in occupation. In Bengali, the cotton carder means Dhuni (ধুনি). Using this word, later the mosque was named as Dhuni Chawk Mosque (ধুনি চক মসজিদ).
)
[1] => Array
(
[name] => Autshahi Mughal Mosque
[post_id] => 9330
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/autshahi-mughal-mosque/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_20150527_1214038541-300x169.jpg
[post_content] =>
Autshahi Mughal Mosque,is a ruin of Mughal period Mosque, just located beside the Autshahi (আউটশাহী) Graveyard. It’s silently containing the evidences of ancient time. People are avoiding to visit that site frequently as it is inside the boundary of graveyard.
It has two entrances and one bulbous shaped dome on the top. Basically, from the structural remains it would be very difficult to prove how it was being used or how it became so.
)
[2] => Array
(
[name] => Chandamari Mosque
[post_id] => 6325
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/chandamari-mosque/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Chandamari-Mosque-300x200-300x200.jpg
[post_content] =>
The Chandamari mosque in Kurigram is an ancient Mughal mosque that has been around for centuries. However, the mosque is falling inexorably into ruin due to acid rain and lack of proper maintenance. The mosque is situated in the village of Chandamari in Chakirpasha union under the Rajarhat Upazila in the district of Kurigram. No one knows the exact year the mosque was built or who built it. The locals consider it the oldest mosque in the area, at approximately five hundred years old. The architecture of the mosque is very similar to that of other buildings dating back to the Mughal times. It should be mentioned that there is no department of archaeology in the district. Should archaeologists visit the mosque and perform carbon dating experiments, its year of foundation may be pinpointed.
During a visit to the site, local man Abdul Zalil Sarker and President of the Mosque Committee Jakir Hossen Chowdhury told Star Insight that perhaps future generations will know the exact age of the mosque. "It was built in the 16th or 17th century. It bears some similarities to the structure of the Atia mosque (1609 AD) in Tangail," a local historian said. Local sources say that though there are 52 decimals of land in the mosque's name, whilst it is established on only five decimals. The height of the mosque is 45”. There are three large, four medium and twenty-four small domes on top, the four corners and around the mosque respectively. Nine of smaller domes have been damaged.
This mosque, however, is not one of a kind. Hundreds of old buildings with ample antique value and rich heritage are crumbling due to lack of care while others are even being deconstructed. The issue seems to be ignored completely by authorities despite plenty of public interest and protest.
The mosque was made with flat tally bricks, which were cemented together with a kind of paste called Bhishkas. The thickness of walls, roof and domes are 4”. From a long period of continued carelessness, a crack had formed in the center of the 3 large domes. Being unfit, the middle dome was reduced by ½ feet and repaired by the mosque committee, who also built a tin-shed porch in front of the mosque.
)
[3] => Array
(
[name] => Sat Masjid
[post_id] => 7883
[post_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/places/satmosjid-mohammadpur/
[thumb_link] => http://offroadbangladesh.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Sat-Masjid2-300x225.jpg
[post_content] =>
Sat Masjid is located in the Mohammadpur area of Dhaka city, the building exhibits seven domes- three over the prayer chamber and four over the corner towers. Hence it is known as Sat Gombuz (seven domed) Mosque. The mosque occupies the western end of a slightly raised masonry plinth 26.82m by 25.60m, which is enclosed by a low wall with a gateway in the middle of the eastern side. This arched gateway with flanking ornamental turrets is exactly in alignment with the central doorway of the mosque proper. The top of the gateway could be approached from either the north or the south by an ascending flight of steps.
The mosque proper forms a large rectangle 14.33m by 4.88m on the inside and is emphasised with massive hollow domed towers of octagonal design on the exterior angles. The prayer chamber is entered through arched doorways - three in the east and one each on the north and south sides.
Corresponding to the three eastern archways there are three semi-octagonal mihrabs inside the western wall. Beside the central mihrab there is a three-stepped masonry pulpit. The central archway and the central mihrab, including two other archways on the north and south walls, have outwardly projected frontons depicting ornamental turrets on either flank.
The interior of the mosque is divided by two wide arches into three conventional divisions - a large central square bay and a smaller rectangular bay on either side. The roof is covered with three slightly bulbous domes on octagonal drums, the central one being bigger than its flanking counterparts. The large central dome is supported by the wide arches together with the two blocked arches over the central mihrab and central archway and the triangular pendentives on the upper angles. But in covering the side rectangles with domes a clever method has been adopted. In order to make a circular base for the dome, the rectangular space has first been made square above by creating half-domed vaults on the east and west walls. These half-domed vaults together with a further series of pendentives on the corners directly support the small domes.
The corner towers have flanking turrets like those in Khwaja Shahbaz’s Mosque and musa khan mosque, both in Dhaka city. Each of these consists of two storeys and is a monument by itself. The lower storey is pierced with four cardinally set arched openings in the north-south and east-west axis. Internally the roof of the lower storey is domical, but its reverse side is flat and forms the floor of the upper storey.
)
)
