# Sixty Dome Mosque

The Sixty Dome Mosque, also known as the Shait-Gumbuz Masjid, is a 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 (1352–1576). 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." It situated is approximately 4.8 kilometres (3 mi) from the main town of Bagerhat; and nearly 320 km (200 mi) from Dhaka.
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'. 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 (49 by 33 metres (160 by 108 ft)). The construction of the mosque began in 1442 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 45.26 metres (148 ft 6 in) by 30.89 metres (101 ft 4 in) externally, and 37.57 metres (123 ft 3 in) by 23.22 metres (76 ft 2 in) internally. 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 1.8 metres (6 ft) 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. 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. It is possible that the mosque was originally referred to as the "Sixty Pillared Mosque"" where, in Arabic: شصت عمؤد, romanized: Amud, lit. 'column', later got corrupted in Bengali: গম্বুজ, romanized: Gombuj, lit. 'dome'.

## Gallery

* Side view
* Arch of the mosque
* Exterior of the mosque
* Inside of mosque
* Southeastern view
* Panoramic view
* Ceiling of the mosque
* Inside of the mosque
* Mosque arches
* Mosque arches
* Mosque arches, exterior
* Inside pillars