Star Mosque
Mosque · Dhaka, Dhaka
Tara Masjid, the jewel-box of Armanitola: a small working mosque whose every surface glitters with chinitikri - broken-china mosaic - worked into hundreds of blue stars across white domes and walls, with Japanese floral tiles and a Mount Fuji panel among the delights of its 1930s redecoration over an early-nineteenth-century core. It is tiny, active and astonishing at close range: the star motif runs from the dome finials to the floor, and the courtyard tank mirrors the whole confection. Visitors are welcomed outside prayer times with ordinary mosque courtesy, and it anchors the Armanitola leg of any Old Dhaka walk.
Abul Khairat Road, Armanitola, Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh
A working mosque: open through the day around the five daily prayers, with visitor windows in the gaps - mid-morning and mid-afternoon are longest. Friday midday (Jumu'ah) is congregation-only in practice. Free entry; donations sustain the mosaic repair. Ramadan shifts the rhythm substantially.