Mishkal Mosque is a mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 located in Kozhikode

Kozhikode

Kozhikode During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Kozhikkode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom of the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District...

 (also known as Calicut) in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

. It is one of the oldest mosques in Kerala.

History

The Mosque was built by an Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 merchant, Nakhooda Mishkal, nearly 650 years ago. It is named Mishkal Mosque after him. It is located in Kuttichira, a part of Thekkepuram

Thekkepuram

Thekkepuram is a quarter located inside the city of Kozhikode in the Indian state of Kerala. Its approximate boundaries are the Arabian Sea on the West, the Kallai river on the South, Vellayil on the North, and the Kozhikode town on the East.The Kallai river flows through the south side of...

 region in Kozhikode city. In 1510, the mosque was partially burned in a Portuguese

Portuguese India

The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...

 attack. The top floors of the mosque still display some of that damage.

Architecture

Mishkal Mosque originally had five stories. It was reconstructed after the fire in 1510 and now has four stories. Typical for similarly aged mosques of the region, it has no cupola

Cupola

In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....

s and minaret

Minaret

A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....

s and heavily employs timber

Timber

Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...

. According to some historians, Kerala’s temple architecture influenced the architecture of old mosques in Kerala which have gopuram

Gopuram

A Gopuram or Gopura, is a monumental tower, usually ornate, at the entrance of any temple, especially in Southern India. This forms a prominent feature of Koils, Hindu temples of the Dravidian style. They are topped by the kalasam, a bulbous stone finial...

style entrance arches and no minarets.

External links

• Google Books. "Moslem Architecture of South India" by Mehrdad Shokoohy. Pages 145-179. There are many diagrams and photos of Mithqalpalli (Mishkal) Mosque.
• Videography