History & heritage

The Mosque City of Bagerhat and the Sixty Dome Mosque

Bagerhat’s medieval mosques, reservoirs and roads recall a planned settlement where the Sixty Dome Mosque remains the most imposing surviving landmark.

The historic mosque city of Bagerhat developed in the fifteenth century under Khan Jahan, in what is now southwestern Bangladesh. Its surviving mosques, reservoirs and traces of roads suggest a settlement shaped by both religious life and practical needs. UNESCO inscribed the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat in 1985. The best-known building is the Sixty Dome Mosque, or Shat Gombuj Masjid. Despite its familiar name, the roof has more than sixty domes. Inside, rows of stone columns divide the broad prayer hall, creating a measured rhythm of shadow and light. Thick brick walls and corner towers give the exterior a weight quite different from the slender profiles of many later mosques. Other monuments help explain the city rather than merely decorate a visit. Smaller mosques and large water tanks show how worship and water supply sat within the same inhabited landscape. The surroundings remain lived in, so respectful clothing, quiet behaviour and attention to prayer times matter as much as an interest in architecture.