Kusumba Mosque (কুসুম্বা শাহী মসজিদ)

Kusumba Mosque stands in the village of Kusumba in Manda Upazila of Naogaon District, in the Rajshahi Division of northern Bangladesh. It is a national heritage site and is protected by the Department of Archaeology.

Begun in 1558 under the last Afghan Sur rulers

An inscription on the mosque records that building began in 1558 and finished in 1559, during the rule of Ghiyasuddin Bahadur Shah, one of the last Afghan Sur rulers of Bengal. Work was supervised by a high official named Sulaiman. Although built under the Sur, the mosque follows the local Bengal style, unlike Sur buildings of north India, and it later served as a model for other mosques in the region.

Walled enclosure, guard gateway and corner towers

The mosque lies inside a walled enclosure, most of which is now gone, entered through a gateway that once had rooms for guards. The mosque measures about 18 by 13 metres, with an octagonal tower at each corner. Unusually, its western wall holds more than one mihrab: besides the main mihrab, two more stand on the inner west wall, one reserved for officials and nobles and the other for the public. Sandstone, granite and marble were used in the building, and parts of the old enclosure wall were covered in black plaster, one possible source of the local names Kala Pahar, black mountain, and Kala Rotno, black gem. An earthquake in 1897 badly damaged the enclosure wall and the domes, though the main structure survived, and some of the outer domes were later repaired by the Department of Archaeology. A water tank to the east of the enclosure once supplied water to local households.