Sura Mosque (সুরা মসজিদ)

Sura Mosque stands in Ghoraghat Upazila of Dinajpur District in the Rangpur Division of northern Bangladesh, about 6 kilometres from the upazila headquarters. It is a small but well-built mosque standing on a raised earth mound.

Dated by style to the Hussain Shahi sultanate

There is no inscription on the building itself. On grounds of style it is dated to the early 16th century, during the Bengal Sultanate under the Hussain Shahi dynasty. An inscription of the time of Alauddin Hussain Shah, dated 910 AH, or 1504 to 1505, was found in the nearby village of Champatali and records the building of a mosque. If it belongs to Sura, the mosque dates from 1504.

Single dome, three-domed verandah and the east steps

The mosque is approached from the east by a flight of steps. It has a single dome over a square prayer room of about 4.87 metres, with a verandah covered by three smaller domes. The building measures about 8.53 by 12.5 metres outside. It was once surrounded by high walls, a feature otherwise unknown in Bengal. The qibla wall holds three semicircular mihrabs with cusped arches set in decorated frames; the central one, the largest, is of stone. Inside, the brick walls are faced with stone slabs, and the outer surfaces show traces of rich terracotta carving.