201 Dome Mosque (২০১ গম্বুজ মসজিদ)

The 201 Dome Mosque stands in South Pathalia village, Nagda Simla Union, in Gopalpur Upazila of Tangail district. It occupies 15 bighas of land on the east bank of the Jhenai River.

Construction began in 2013, and the mosque opened for prayers in 2019, though work on some of the towers continued afterwards. It was built by the Heroic Freedom Fighter Mohammad Rafiqul Islam Welfare Trust, at an estimated cost of around 100 crore taka.

One central dome ringed by 200 smaller ones

The building is square in plan. A central dome about 25 metres high is surrounded by 200 smaller domes, each about 5.2 metres high, which gives the mosque its name. Four corner towers rise to 31 metres and four shorter towers to 25 metres. Immediately to the southwest stands a separate minaret planned at about 137 metres, or 451 feet, described in Bangladeshi press reports as the tallest concrete minaret in the world. The whole text of the Quran is inscribed on the western wall.

Room for 15,000, plus a hospital and orphanage

The prayer hall holds about 15,000 worshippers, with plans to expand capacity to 30,000. The complex also includes an orphanage, a care home for the elderly, a hospital offering free treatment and a helipad.

The mosque is open 24 hours a day and entry is free. Visitors should dress modestly, remove shoes before entering and avoid prayer times. Gopalpur is a few hours by road from Dhaka.