The Mosque City of Bagerhat

The Mosque City of Bagerhat, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the humid delta of the southwest, is one of Bangladesh's greatest historical treasures, the remains of a remarkable medieval Islamic city. In the fifteenth century, a Turkish general and Muslim saint, Khan Jahan Ali, founded a city here in the mangrove wilderness, building a wealth of mosques, mausoleums and infrastructure. Its crowning glory is the Shat Gombuj Masjid, the Sixty Dome Mosque, a vast, austere and beautiful brick structure whose forest of pillars supports scores of domes, a masterpiece of the early Islamic architecture of Bengal. Its name is a puzzle in itself - the mosque actually carries seventy-seven domes on sixty pillars. Around the monuments, the vast excavated tanks Khan Jahan Ali dug to hold fresh water in the saline delta still hold water, and crocodiles are kept at the pond by his shrine.

What you actually see

• The Sixty Dome Mosque - the vast, many-domed brick masterpiece.
• Nine Dome Mosque - among the scattered smaller medieval mosques and tombs.
• The water tanks - vast excavated reservoirs built to hold fresh water.
• The saint's tomb - the mausoleum of Khan Jahan Ali.

When to go

November to March, the cool, dry season, for the most comfortable weather, as the delta is intensely hot and humid in summer and wet in the monsoon; the mosque and monuments are best explored in the cooler morning hours. Fridays bring prayers at the working mosques, so timing a visit around them is respectful. It pairs naturally with a trip to the nearby Sundarbans.

Honest expectations

The monuments are scattered across a rural area and require some travel between them, and beyond the impressive main mosque, several are modest, so a guide and interest in Islamic history help; it is off the main tourist trail in the humid southwest. Restoration quality varies and some brickwork has been heavily repointed. Combined with the nearby Sundarbans, though, and as a remarkable, atmospheric relic of medieval Islamic Bengal crowned by the magnificent Sixty Dome Mosque, Bagerhat is a rewarding and important site.

Nearby

The city of Khulna and the Sundarbans mangroves are close by.