Mosque and shrine, Magura
Gopalgram Shahi Mosqueগোপালগ্রাম শাহি মসজিদ
- Time needed
- About 30 minutes.
- best months
- Nov–Feb
A Mughal-style mosque in Gopalgram, Shalikha, of tile-brick and clay mortar with flower carvings, now called Baitun Nur Jame Masjid and still in daily use.
At a glance
- Built
- Late 16th or early 17th century, by local history
- Size
- About 60 × 40 ft
- Today
- Baitun Nur Jame Masjid, in use
About
No written record gives the year, but local history places the mosque in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, and people here say it was built in Akbar's reign. The names remembered with it are Kalim Uddin Shikdar, called Boro Shikdar, and the zamindar of Katli village, Shah Sufi Hazrat Jamir Uddin Ahmad.
The main hall is about 60 by 40 feet, built of tile-bricks in a mortar of clay and brick dust, with no steel or concrete. It was designed with one dome and four minarets; only part of one minaret survives. The walls carry carvings of shiuli, rose, marigold and lotus flowers and climbing vines, worn but still visible on the mihrab and inside. Two of the three doors are now closed. Local people pay for repairs every few years and have added new rooms around the old dome. It is a working mosque with Quran and hifz classes, and worshippers come from the nearby villages too.
Getting there: Gopalgram is in Shalikha upazila: take a bus to Arpara and an easy-bike or van to Gopalgram.
Things to do
- Look for the flower carvings on the mihrab and walls.
- Find the surviving piece of the old minaret.
Good to know
- Visit outside prayer times, dress modestly and take your shoes off.
