The Shat Gambuj Mosque
Activities
B. Read the text and complete the chart given after it.
'Heritage' is what we inherit from the past, live with in the present and then pass on to our children or future generation. Our unique source of life and inspiration is our cultural and natural heritage. When we speak of 'World Heritage', it indicates places and sites that we inherited from the past and pass on to the future generation of the entire world.
The 'Shat Gambuj Mosque' in Bagerhat is such a heritage. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Originally, the historic Mosque City was known as 'Khalifatabad'. It is situated at the outskirts of Bagerhat town--- not very far from the dense mangrove forest of the Sundarbans. Khalifatabad was a Muslim colony. It was founded by the Turkish general, a saint warrior Ulugh Khan Jahan in the 15th century. The infrastructure of the city reveals significant technical skills in many mosques as well as early Islamic monuments. Baked bricks were used for the construction of the buildings. The planning of the city was dominated by the tradition of Islamic architecture and the decorations were a combination of Mughal and Turkish architecture.
Khan Jahan built a network of roads, bridges, public buildings and reservoirs to make the city habitable. There were about 360 mosques in the city. Among them the most remarkable is the multi-domed Shat Gombuj Mosque. The mosque is unique in the sense that it has 60 pillars that support the roof, with 77 low height domes. The 4 towers at 4 corners have smaller domes at the top as well. The vast prayer hall has 11 arched doorways on the east and 7 each on the north and south for light and ventilation. It has 7 aisles running along the length of the mosque and 11 deep curves between the slender stone columns. These columns support the curving arches created by the domes. The thickness of the arches is 6 feet and have slightly narrowing hollow and round wall.
The west wall in the interior has 11 .mihrabs' (niche in mosque pointing towards Makkah). These mihrabs are decorated with stonework and terracotta. The floor of the mosque is made of brick.
Besides being used as a prayer hall, Khan Jahan used the mosque as his court too. Today, it is one of the greatest tourist attractions and one of the best architectural beauties of Bangladesh.
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Arches |
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towers |
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aisles |
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C. Look at the picture of the Star Mosque in Dhaka. Read the information and write a description of the mosque with the help of the given clues.
Location: Dhaka, Abul Khairat Road
Style: Mughal
Number of domes: 5
Decoration: different sizes of stars on dome and outside wall
Materials used for decoration: chinaware and white cement
Interior of the mosque: mosaic floor, floral tiles on the wall
Built by: Mirza Ghularn Pir-a respectable Zamindar of Dhaka
Time: early 18th century
One of the most splendid mosques in Dhaka is the Star Mosque which is also named as Tara Mosjid. This particular mosque is located on Abul Khairat Road in Armanitola area. It was built by a respectable Zamindar of Dhaka named ‘Mirza Ghulam Pir’ in the early 18th century. The mosque has ornate designs and is decorated with motifs of blue stars. The Mughal styled mosque has different sizes of stars on dome and outside walls. This star mosque is originally rectangular shaped and has five significant domes. Chinaware and white cement are mainly used for the decoration of this beautiful mosque. Moreover, the interior of the mosque is made of mosaic floor and floral tiles on the wall. This important structural monument is one of the assets of Dhaka and is also a known place for tourist to visit.
D. Answer to the Questions:
E. Make a pair and discuss about the mosques that you have in your locality. Prepare a dialogue and present it in front of the class by performing it.
You can use the questions given below while preparing the dialogue:
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How many mosques are there in your locality?
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What are their names?
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Do you know anything about the history of the mosques?
There are altogether 3 mosques in our locality. They are Baitul Mamur Mosque, Jamtola Shahi Jaam-e-Masjid, and Ashrafia Jaam-e-Masjid. The mosque that is famous among them is the Baitul Mamur Mosque. It is a big 5-storied mosque with a lot of space. It can accommodate almost 3000 people at a time. The founder of the mosque was the former chairman of our locality, Habib Ullah. It is said that his grandfather, who was a saintly person, ordained him in his dream to build a mosque in the locality. So, he built this mosque in 1980. It has 4 domes at the 4 corners and is filled with patterns of flowers. It is really a beautiful mosque.