Shahbaz Khan Mosque

Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh

23°43′46″N 90°24′01″E / 23.7294°N 90.4003°E / 23.7294; 90.4003ArchitectureDate established1679

Shahbaz Khan Mosque is a historic mosque located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Located near Mir Jumla’s Gate, this mosque serves as an example of late Mughal architecture in Bengal, known as the Shaista Khan architectural style.

History

The mosque and the adjacent shrine were built in 1679 AD by Hazi Khwaja Shahbaz Khan, an affluent merchant from Dhaka, who was buried in the shrine after his death.

Architecture

The mosque is rectangular and divided into three equal interior sections, each of which is roofed over by an onion dome. The eastern façade of the mosque has three arched openings, and the northern and southern façades have single-arched openings leading to the prayer hall. The prayer hall houses three semi-octagonal mihrabs, each aligned with one opening through the eastern façade. The central mihrab is larger and highly ornamented with Cyprus-filled kanjuras (decorative merlons), ornate arabesque plastic relief on the spandrels, a cusped arch, and engaged colonettes standing on bulbous floral bases. At the four corners, there are four ribbed, octagonal turrets, capped with plastered cupolas.^[1]

In 1950, the Eastern circle of the Pakistan Directorate of Archaeology (DOA) took over the mosque for restoration.