| Obverse description |
At right side - Star Mosque (Bengali: তারা মসজিদ; also known as Tara Masjid), is a mosque located in Armanitola area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The mosque has ornate designs and is decorated with motifs of blue stars. It was built in the first half of the 19th century by Mirza Golam Pir (Mirza Ahmed Jan). The main appeal of the mosque is the striking mosaics decorating it. The artisans who created these patterns used a technique called Chinitikri, which uses broken shards of China porcelain as mosaic pieces. (Pieces of broken bottles were also used at times because colored ceramics were costly.) The size of the pieces varied from half an inch to 2.5 inches, and the preferred shapes were rhomboid and triangular. The mosque is now one of the few extant examples of an architectural work decorated with Chinitikri-style mosaics. Most notable is the Chinitikri blue star motif that gives the structure its popular name, Star Mosque. Hundreds of blue-colored stars adorn the white marble domes, and this star theme is echoed by the mosaics of flowers and rosettes found on the façade and the interior of the mosque. |
