Overview

A merchant of prince of Dhaka

Dhaka

Dhaka is the capital of Bangladesh and the principal city of Dhaka Division. Dhaka is a megacity and one of the major cities of South Asia. Located on the banks of the Buriganga River, Dhaka, along with its metropolitan area, had a population of over 15 million in 2010, making it the largest city...

 who built the 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...

 as well as his own Dargah Sharif during his lifetime in - 1086 (h).It is an Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture

Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the foundation of Islam to the present day, influencing the design and construction of buildings and structures in Islamic culture....

. Now its present condition is good. Shahbaz Khan Mosque situated in the old high court area.

History

In 1950 the Eastern circle of the Pakistan Directorate of Archaeology took over both the Haji khwaja Shahbaj Masjid, and the adjacent square mazart. Shah baz khan built mazar,post. This mosque and tomb

Tomb

A tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes...

, constructed in 1679 by Haji khwaja Shahbaz, a rich merchant of Dhaka, remains the city’s most refined mosque.

Architectural value

Its high fortified walls and occasional bastion

Bastion

A bastion, or a bulwark, is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall , facilitating active defence against assaulting troops...

s were encroached upon, destruction, defacement of different structures and changes in internal spaces, had put the fort in a sorry state. The two-storied diwan

Diwan-khane

The Arabic/Persian word Dewan or Divan , with a range of meanings:diwan, a collection of poetry;Khan, from Arabic and Persian, is a house, an inn, hotel, a chamber, a caravansary...

 block was partly damaged; bathhouse

Bathhouse

Bathhouse may refer to* Public bathing, historical public baths* Gay bathhouse, a place where males, typically homosexuals, go to have sex with other customers...

, niches were filled in, and decorative panels were mostly plastered over. the Doa accomplished a good job in restoring the structure and converting it into a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 in the first place, but the pinkish finish on the exterior, rather than the original lustrous white, fuelled debates and controversies. The elegance of its interior bespeaks the patron’s wealth. The mosque’s interior is divided into three bays by two lateral cusped arches supported by stone piers embedded in the east and west walls. yet the directorate restored the dochala roof on the veranda at the south of the tomb and the decorative features like engaged corner turrets. This appears to be the first use of lateral cusped arches in a Bengali mosque’s interior, and was doubtless inspired by imperial mughal architecture

Mughal architecture

Mughal architecture, an amalgam of Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian architecture, is the distinctive style developed by the Mughals in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It is symmetrical and decorative in style.The Mughal dynasty was...

. The central Mihrab

Mihrab

A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying...

, particularly noteworthy, is highly ornamented with Cyprus-filled kanjuras, ornate arabesque plastic relief in the spandrels, a cusped arch, and engaged colonettes standing on bulbous floral bases. Due east of the mosque is the small, square, single-domed tomb with engaged turrets at each corner. Attached to the Southside was a low rectangular chamber with a do- chala roof, now collapsed. While the purpose of this room is not clear, it perhaps served as a prototype

Prototype

A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...

 for the more symmetrical tomb of khwaja anwar-i shahid in Burdwan. It reconstructed the brick podium and provided adequate provision for ablution, plumbing, and sanitation services. The front façade of the mosque has three arched openings within four slender columns; it also has four corner turrets, ribbed and engaged. In a way the other two mosques built slightly later than this one bear similar features, but in an improved form. It is something that we now identify as a distinct Mughal style in Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

.

It also worked on other structures; too. It shied away from proper excavation and documentation of the intricate water supply

Water supply

Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavours or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes...

 system a network of terracotta pipes, an aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

, a water reservoir and several fountains, until recently.

Present Condition

Due to its uninterrupted use and some care and maintenance since then the mosque did not require any renovation

Renovation

Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...

. However, in the past, the doa have made several unacceptable modifications while carrying out periodic repairs that’s how the poverty of its mind. Like in and around many other heritage structures all over the country, the premises of Shahbaz khan mosque is occupied by religious groups building illegal structures and extensions to the listed building, ignoring its heritage value that they abuse, building code

Building code

A building code, or building control, is a set of rules that specify the minimum acceptable level of safety for constructed objects such as buildings and nonbuilding structures. The main purpose of building codes are to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the...

s and rules, fiercely protecting their possessions.

Present Address

Shahbaz Khan Mosque and Tomb situated at near the Teen Netar Mazar in Shahabag, Dhaka.