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Star
Mosque is situated in Abdul Khairat
Road, Armanitola, in the old part
of Dhaka City. The mosque is not
dated by any inscription. It is
known that one Mirza Golam Pir,
whose ancestors had come to Dhaka
and settled in Mohalla Ale Abu Sayeed
(present-day Armanitola), erected
it. Mirza Golam Pir died in 1860,
and hence the date of construction
of the mosque may conveniently be
placed in the first half of the
19th century. |
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Originally
it was an oblong (10.06m ?4.04m) three-domed
mosque. There were three mihrabs on the
Qibla wall in alignment with the three
doorways of the mosque, of which the central
one was larger than the side ones. The
prayer chamber was roofed with three domes,
the central one being taller and larger
than the other two. The domes are carried
in the interior on squinches. The original
mosque building was not as decorated as
it is now. The dilapidated plain and naked
wall of the western side bears witness
to the plainness of the past. The three
southern doorways of the mosque are no
doubt the old ones.
In 1926 a local businessman named Alijan
Bepari added a verandah to the mosque
on its eastern side, thereby almost doubling
the width of the mosque without changing
its original plan. Five arches were erected
on four pillars on the eastern facade
of the verandah. He also financed its
resurfacing with delicate and richly coloured
tiles of variegated patterns.
In 1987 the three-domed mosque was transformed
into a five-domed mosque. At present,
the length and breadth of the mosque is
21.34m and 7.98m respectively. Some changes
took place in its plan; one mihrab was
demolished and two new domes and three
new mihrabs were added. Five arched doorways
provide entrance to the mosque. The multifoiled
arches spring up from octagonal pillars.
The mosque, both inside and outside, is
decorated with mosaic. Small chips of
Chinaware-plate, cup etc and pieces of
glass have been used for mosaic. This
type of mosaic is called 'Chini Tikri'
work. Vase with flowers is an important
decorative motif on the spandrel of the
arches and elsewhere on the facade. Flower-vases,
flower branches, rosset, crescent, star,
and Arabic calligraphic writing have been
used in the decoration of the mosque.
The outer wall between the doors are decorated
with the motif of Fujisan (Mount Fuji)
on glazed tiles and a crescent-and-star
design decorates the upper part of the
facade. Hundreds of blue stars have been
created on the domes of white marble.
All over the mosque the motif of stars
dominate the decoration and so the mosque
is called the Star Mosque (Tara Masjid).
[Ayesha Begum] |
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