Pirojpur’s century old wooden mosque

Back in 1913, Mominuddin Akan of Udoytara Burirchar village in Mathbaria upazila of Pirojpur decided to build a mosque in his village as he was too old to go to Hajj.
With the help of donations from his relatives, Akan established a beautiful wooden mosque nearby his house Akan Bari.
The new mosque was built in place of a normal wooden mosque.
He took the money and went to Myanmar, Asam and Tripura of India for collecting shal, shegun and lohakath logs.
He started construction work of the wooden mosque in 1913.
He hired 22 expert carpenters from Nesarabad (previous name Swarupkathi) upazila in the district. The carpenters completed the construction work after seven years in 1920.
Every single inch of the mosque is designed in a very talented way and carved beautifully.
The wall of the mosque is divided into two parts with the same design. Both the interior and exterior of walls are designed very beautifully.
This 15 yards long and nine yards wide mosque has one door and 12 windows on its four sides. The walls, door, windows and pillars of the mosque have been designed in different ways with carved flowers, fruits and other motifs so that it looks very beautiful.
Through the walls’ ventilators, wind and light can easily enter into the mosque. Around 30 men can say their prayers at a time inside the mosque.
At present the mosque is known as Momin Masjid.
Department of Archeology of Bangladesh government has taken the responsibility of saving the mosque from being damaged and they have set a awareness sign board in this regard on the mosque premises.
Everyday people from different parts of the country come to see the unique beauty of Momin Mossid and take photographs of it, said Md Nizamul Haque Harun, imam of the mosque and also one of the grandsons of the mosque’s founder Momin Uddin.  
“My grandfather took the responsibility of making a beautiful mosque with wood and he worked hard to complete it,” he said adding that the mosque has got a special identity countrywide.
But they are facing some problems too.
“After the Department of Archeology took the responsibility of saving the mosque, we have lost the power of expanding the mosque area as they have forbidden us from modifying the mosque,” he said adding that the space inside the mosque is not enough to accommodate the people of the village on Friday, a special prayer day for the Muslims.
But the mosque is not cared for in proper way. There is no boundary around the mosque. On the other hand, some parts of the mosque have been kept under polythene cover so that rain water cannot cause damage to it.
Locals think that only hanging a signboard on the mosque premises is not enough for saving it. Some more steps should be taken to save this unique structure, claimed the locals.