File:An evening view of the Asafi Mosque.jpg

English: Much the largest mosque commissioned by the Nawabs in the 18th century, was that by Nawab Asaf-ud-daula, as an accompaniment to the Bara Imambara. It is situated in the second forecourt of the Bara Imambara, to its north-west side and at an angle to its main axis. This mosque is approached by an imposing flight of steps, which lead up to a terrace of stone. The plan of the mosque is a highly elaborated version of that of the early Nawabi mosques and consists of a series of ten chambers, connected to one another on all sides (except towards the closed west wall) by large arches. These chambers are arranged in two parallel rows of five chambers each, along a north-south axis, thus giving the superficial impression that the building actually consists of two vast, rectangular halls. In fact, the pair of chambers lying at the centre of the composition, of which the western one faces the mehrab-wall and of which the eastern, turns out on a close inspection to be larger than all others. The piers dividing the chambers have enormous thickness, but their surface moulding is not complex; roofs are vaulted; the materials used in the interior are throughout brick and stucco, now coloured white; floors of stone; and no wood seems to have been employed. The decoration in the interior is confined to floral and geometric stucco bands, in a manner permitted by Islam; but a striking feature is the use of coffering in ceilings, in a style reminiscent of ceilings of the east and west chambers of the Bara Imambara.