Mosque and shrine, Nilphamari
Chini Mosque, Saidpurচিনি মসজিদ, সৈয়দপুর
- Time needed
- Under an hour.
- Cost
- Free.
A mosque in Saidpur covered inside and out with pieces of broken china, begun as a thatched prayer house in 1863 and rebuilt in brick in the twentieth century.
At a glance
- First built
- 1863, of thatch and bamboo
- Town
- Saidpur
About
Two local men put up the first prayer house of thatch and bamboo in the Isbag area of Saidpur; it became tin, and then the townspeople raised money for a masonry mosque. Its walls were later set with porcelain shards in flower and crescent patterns, which gave it its name.
Saidpur itself grew around the railway workshop set up in British times, and the mosque sits in the old part of the town. About five hundred people can pray in it at once.
Getting there: In Saidpur town, about 20 km from Nilphamari; a rickshaw from the railway station.
Things to do
- Look closely at the china mosaic on the façade.
Good to know
- Dress modestly and avoid prayer times; women may be asked to stay outside the prayer hall.
