Hooghly Imambara

Imambara Courtyard

Hooghly Imambara (Imam—angel, bara —the building to live in)[1] is a mosque cum imambarah administered by shiah astna-ashari sect of Muslims, in Hooghly, West Bengal.[1] The construction of the building was started by Muhammad Mohsin in 1841, which completed in 1861.[2] The building is a two storied structure, which a tall clock tower over the entrance gate.[1] The mosque within the complex has intricate designs and texts from Quran engraved on the wall. The interior of the mosque is decorated with marbles, candles and hanging lanterns.

Imambara of Hooghly

The Clock[1]

Hooghly Imambara is famous mainly for its vaunted clock. The clock is located at the middle of the twin towers constructed upon the doorway of the main entrance. Each tower,having height of approximately 150 ft., takes 152 steps to reach its top. The clock has two dials with three bells having weight 80 mds, 40 mds and 30 mds. Smaller bells ring at an interval of 15 minutes and bigger bell rings to signify one hour. The wonder clock requires two men to wind for half an hour of each weak, with a key weighing 20 kg. The clock was bought at a cost of Rs. 11,721 (at the time of buying i.e. in the year of 1852) by Syed Keramat Ali from the manufacturer- M/s Black & Hurray Co., Big Ben, London.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 Mukherjee, Sreecheta (2011). "Hazi Muhammad Mohsin's Hooghly Imambara: a Tale of Diminishing Glory" (PDF). Chitrolekha International Magazine on Art and Design. 1 (3). Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Next weekend you can be at ... Hooghly". The Telegraph. 26 February 2006. Retrieved 17 February 2013.


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