Explore Shat Gambuj Mosque

The Sabbatum Gambuj house of worship (Bengali: সাত গম্বুজ মসজিদ, lit. 'Seven rounded Mosque') is close to the northwestern outskirts of Dacca within the Mohammadpur space. it's a fine example of the provincial Mughal form of design introduced in Bangladesh within the seventeenth century. The mosque's most notable options ar its seven bulbous domes crowning the roof and covering the most prayer hall. most likely erected by Governor Shaista Khan, the monument stands during a romantic setting on a supported 15-foot-high bank high an in depth flood plain.

History

A few kilometers to the north of Peelkhana, for long the top of Mughal Dacca, was the Jafarbad or Katasur space, originally a part of mouza Sarai Begumpur. several of the mouzas (or revenue circles) were represented throughout the reign of Shershah and later by Kartalab Khan. alittle urban settlement on a route on the watercourse, this was another to achieve river or Garh Jaripa while not having to travel through the hostile areas on the most stream of Sitalakhya and river on the east. this can be evident from its geographic and strategic location, origin of the names of the neck of the woods, and therefore the remnants around it.
The place wherever the seven-domed house of worship is was called Sarai Jafarbad or Katasur, underneath Sarai Begumpur. There was alittle agricultural community in between Pilkhana and Jafarbad wherever the Sabbatum Gambuj house of worship was designed. the realm became sort of a jungle because of decline, dereliction, and desertion. However, in last fifty five years, it's become one in all the foremost planned and most costly residential enclaves of Dacca. The Sabbatum place of worship Road is that the major peripheral road of the district to its west and is believed to possess been designed roughly on wherever the previous Bank watercourse Turag was.

Structure

Picturesquely settled on the sting of a watercourse, the Shat Gumbuj Mosque's exterior is that the most innovative of all the Dacca Mughal-period monuments. The north and south end of this three-domed rectangular house of worship ar every marked by 2 monumental double-storied corner pavilions; once viewed from the east these offer the impression that the house of worship has 5 exterior bays. On the east ar 3 angular entrances arches flanked by shallow niches. Slender engaged columns with bulbous bases demarcate the central bay (as seen because the Lalbagh Fort house of worship, though this mosque's colonettes ar additional prominent).
Its interior compares favorably therewith of others qualitative analysis to the last half of the sixteenth century. The central mihrab has 2 rows of cusping, and its surface is embellished with moulded plaster relief, recalling the elaborateness of the mihrab within the house of worship of hajji Khwaja Shahbaz.
It used forms shapes—octagon, parallelogram and circle—all superbly close. Besides the everyday 3 domes on the most prayer hall, there ar four hollow double-storey rounded corner towers that gave rise to its name (Seven-Domed Mosque). The corner turret provided structural stability and visual balance to the 38'×27' building on a watercourse bank and was most likely used as viewing galleries for enjoying the watercourse. The higher level of the octangular turrets starts from around 0.5 the peak of the most prayer hall. each levels have arched panels and windows, head by cornice and capped by domes with kalasha (pitcher) finials planted on lotus base.
Otherwise with a much bigger dome within the middle flanked by 2 smaller pennis, the house of worship bears all the characteristic options of Shaista Khani vogue. However, tho' the qibla facades of most such buildings stay unclothed, that of the Sabbatum Gambuj house of worship is adorned with recessions at intervals moulded panels, the center portion represented by 2 slender pilasters slightly jutting. These ar abundant larger than those typically seen at the front. The 3 central panels have associate arch-shape on the lower half.
The house of worship has 3 angular entrance arches, the center one being taller and edged with multi-foil arch, a late-Mughal refinement, flanked by shallow niches and rectangular panels and echoed by mihrabs on the qibla wall, slender engaged pilasters with bulbous base demarcating the central bay, mihrab surface embellished with moulded plaster relief, corner turret stretched higher than bulwark parapet with pinnacles, mingle, openings on aspect walls, etc.
The aspect entrances have mere decoration applied to their external faces a number of which can not be original. of these parts emphasize the symmetrical and axial arrangement beside the central dome and therefore the mihrab. the fashion is incredibly common among most of the extant historic mosques of Dacca. designed on a spacious and solid platform, it's several parts resembling those in Khwaja Shahbaz house of worship, Khan Muhammad Mirdha's house of worship, and therefore the house of worship within the Lalbagh Fort.
The heights of the entrances and different openings are distorted or dwarfed by elevation of the plint level because the ground around was perpetually elevated to stay higher than flood level. However, the 2 slender pinnacles rising on either side of the panel offer a form of vertically to the current otherwise horizontal and stout structure. This part achieved tier of perfection and thus magnificence within the Mridha's house of worship designed quarter of a century later. There ar eight little panels on all sides of the door, all of that ar enclose arched niches. The transition from the sq. to the circle of the dome base is formed by pendentives. However, the domes ar typical, rest on octangular drum shoulder, embellished with blind merlons. The brick lime walls of the naturally cool structures ar six feet deep.

There is a cemetery before of the house of worship used as late because the Nineteen Fifties. it had been originally within a wider garden that was bit by bit worn by watercourse and encroached by buildings. a definite entranceway before of the sahn that was currently subsided thanks to gradual rise within the close levels is climbed over for azan (prayer call). The watercourse Turag on that the picturesque structure was standing even few decades back, has currently enraptured nearly a klick faraway from it because of silt, encroachment by filling up, and alter in fact.
The surrounding rescued lands for several years were utilized by little scale makers, semi-permanent homes and slums. however currently heavier and additional intensive uses is seen.

Present condition

The governor of Dacca Khwaja Ahsanullah had the abandoned structure re-embellished because it was later listed in 1913 by the ASI. because of its uninterrupted use and a few care and maintenance since then, the house of worship failed to need any renovation. However, within the past, the DOA created many unacceptable modifications whereas effecting periodic repairs that show the poorness of its mind. for instance, the utilization of terrazzo on the ground of the most prayer hall and therefore the court is contrary to traditional conservation practices that might have avoided exploitation most recent materials to keep up associate legitimacy. Some recent renovation jobs, for instance applying the thick white plaster, have additionally drawn criticism from specialists. Like in and around several different heritage structures everywhere the country, the premises of Sabbatum Gambuj house of worship is occupied by non secular teams building bootleg structures and extensions to the listed building, ignoring its heritage price, building codes and rules, ferociously protective their possessions. Few travelers see Sabbatum Gambuj house of worship thanks to its somewhat remote location.