Chunakhola Mosque (চুনাখোলা মসজিদ)

Chunakhola Mosque stands in the middle of rice fields in Chunakhola village, close to Bagerhat town in southwest Bangladesh. It dates from the late 15th century, in the Sultanate period, and belongs to the group of monuments listed by UNESCO in 1983 as the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat. Bangladesh declared it a protected monument in 1975.

Between the Khan Jahan style and later mosques

The mosque marks a step between the pure Khan Jahan style seen in the Sixty Dome Mosque and the features of later buildings such as the Zinda Pir Mosque. The Department of Archaeology has restored it.

Square brick prayer room under one dome

It is a square brick building about 12.5 metres on each side outside, with a prayer room 7.7 metres square and walls 2.24 metres thick. A single hemispherical dome rests on squinches. Three doorways open on the east and one each on the north and south, and round towers stand at the four corners. The cornice curves gently and carries three rows of mouldings, with a band of mesh patterns below that is unlike other Khan Jahan style mosques.

The west wall holds three semicircular mihrabs, the central one the largest. The only decoration is terracotta, with lattice work, rosettes, floral scrolls, interlocking circles, lozenges and hanging motifs.