Spiritual PlaceMosque

Basri Shah Mosque

Kolkata's oldest mosque, built in 1804–05 in Chitpur-Cossipore and named after a saint from Basra

Photo: Indrajit Das · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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01 — The story

Basri Shah Mosque, a Sunni mosque following the Hanafi school, stands in Kolkata's Chitpur-Cossipore area where Panchanan Mukherjee Road meets Sett Pukur Road. Completed in 1219 AH (1804–05 CE) by Jafir Ali, it is the oldest mosque in Kolkata; an earlier mosque stood on the spot before the city was founded.

It takes its name from the nearby shrine of Basri Shah, a saint from Basra in Iraq who settled in Kolkata at some point between 1760 and 1790 and whose followers raised the shrine after his death. The building has three domes and four minarets. After lying abandoned for many years, it was placed on the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's heritage list and renovated.

Unmapia

02 — About

Coming soon

We’re still writing about Basri Shah Mosque: its history, what’s there and why it’s worth the trip.