Pandua Bari Mosque, Hooghly, West Bengal India

Pandua Bari Mosque is a long, low building established in 1300 AD. This masjid is a specimen of the typical brick style of Bengal. The building has dimension of 7041 m by 12.8 m. It has three aisles, with 21 door openings in front and three on the side. The roof has 63 small domes over brick arches resting on stone pillars that are influenced by Hindu architecture. Furthermore, the mosque also has a canopied platform.

The town is a history buff’s paradise as this was the very first place where the famed traveler Vasco De Gama landed among the first Portuguese settlers who brought in a new era of trading and commerce in the district, making the river a prominent trading port in the year 1536. Hooghly came into limelight with the establishment of the city by a Portuguese captain named Pedro Tavares who was responsible for making the place the first European settlement in West Bengal, followed by the British, Dutch, Germans, French and Belgians that made this place a commercial hub.