Choto Sona Mosque was called 'Jewel of Gaur'. The outside of this mosque was covered with golden color, when the sun shines, this color shines like gold. On the other hand there was another mosque in ancient Gaur which is known as Sona Masjid. It was built by Sultan Nusrat Shah. It was bigger. So local people used to call it Chhoto Sona Masjid and Gaur Nagari Mosque as Bara Sona Masjid. 

Chhota Sona Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Bangladesh. This mosque is called the jewel of Sultanate architecture. During the reign of Sultan Alauddin Shah (1493-1519 AD) a person named Mansoor Wali Mohammad bin Ali built this mosque. As such, the current age of the mosque is more than 500 years. 

The jewel likeness of the Sultanate period was built in Pirojpur village on the outskirts of Gaur city, the capital of ancient Bengal. Which is currently preserved under the Directorate of Archeology of Shivganj Thana, Chapainawabganj District, Bangladesh.

The mosque is 82 feet long in north-south direction and 52.5 feet wide in east-west direction. Height 20 feet. Its walls are about 6 feet thick. The walls are brick but inside and outside the mosque they are covered with stone. After the completion of the stone work on the inner walls, the work of the arch has begun. The arches and domes of the mosque are made of bricks. 

There are four towers at the four corners of the mosque. Their ground design is octagonal. The towers have stepped ring work. The height of the turrets is up to the roof cornice. 

The east wall of the mosque has five arched doorways. The arches are multi-parted and richly ornamented. There are three doors each on the north and south walls. The westernmost doorway in the north wall is replaced by a staircase. This staircase leads up to a special room on the second floor on the north-west side inside the mosque. The room rests on stone pillars. 

According to the structure of the mosque, it is considered to be a zenana-mahal. However, according to many, it was not a zenana-mahal, it was a separate room for the Sultan or ruler to pray safely. The 15 domes of the mosque are built on the 8 pillars inside the mosque and the surrounding walls. The domes on the roof between the middle mihrab and the door in the east wall are chauchala domes. 

Along the main entrance of the mosque, the gateway, which is located on the eastern outer wall and is now completely reconstructed, is 7.6 meters long and 2.4 meters wide. It has a total of 12 domes, three in two rows on either side. They are semi-circular domes. One of the characteristics of this mosque is that only five domes can be seen from any side of the outside, the domes behind are not visible. 

Stone, brick and terracotta are mainly used in the decoration of the entire mosque. Among them, there are more designs carved on stone. The facade, turrets, doors etc. of the mosque have very fine work on stone, where foliage, rose flowers, hanging chains, bells etc. are carved. The doors are encased in ornate quadrangular frames. The arches are decorated with stone carvings. The center of the two arches also has stone ornamentation. 

How to go

Chapainawabganj and Shibganj can be reached by Hanif, Modern and some other transport buses from Kalyanpur in Dhaka. It takes seven hours, the fare is Tk 400 to Tk 450. Then it will take another hour to go to Chhota Sonamsjid by local bus.