Brief
Ahsan Manzil (আহসান মঞ্জিল, Ahsan Monjil) was the official residential and seat of the Dhaka Nawab Family. This magnificent building is situated at Kumartoli along the banks of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The construction of this palace was started in 1859 and completed in 1872. It was constructed in the Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture. It has been designated as a national museum.
In Mughal era, there was a garden house of Sheikh Enayet Ullah, the landlord of Jamalpur porgona (district), in this place. Sheikh Enayet Ullah was a very charming person. He acquired a very big area in Kumortuli (Kumartuli) and included it in his garden house. Here he built a beautiful palace and named it “Rongmohol”. He used to enjoy here keeping beautiful girls collecting from the country and abroad, dressing them with gorgeous dresses and expensive ornaments. There is a saying that, the foujdar of Dhaka (representative of mughal emperor) in that time was attracted to one of the beautiful girls among them. He invited Sheikh Enayet Ullah in a party one night and killed him in a conspiracy when he was returning home. That girl also committed suicide in anger and sorrow. There was a grave of Sheikh Enayet Ullah in the north-east corner of the palace yard which was ruined in the beginning of 20th century.
Around 1740 century, in the period of Nawab Alibardi Khan, Sheikh Moti Ullah, the son of Sheikh Enayet Ullah, sold the property to the French traders. There was a French trading house beside this property. The trading house became wealthier after purchasing this property. In that time, French traders could do business here without paying any taxes by a decree from the emperor Awrangajeb.
In that time, the French became very wealthy by doing business here in competition with the English and other European companies. They made a big palace and dug a pond for sweet water in the newly purchased property. The pond still exists in the compound of Ahsan Manjil which was called “Les Jalla” in that time. In the English-French war, French got defeated and all their properties were captured by the English. In the 22nd June of 1757, the French left the trading house with a fleet of 35 boats from the river station of Buriganga in front of Kumartuli.
In 1785, the French transferred the property to a French tradesman named Mr. Champigni, and retaken it at 1801. According to Paris agreement of 1814, the French claimed all their left properties at Dhaka, and in 1827 the property was again returned to the French. For the increasing power of the English, the French was forced to left subcontinent. They decided to sell all their properties in Dhaka. So in 1830, the trading house of Kumartuli was purchased by the established landlord of Dhaka Khwaja Alimullah.
After some renovation work, the trading house became the residence of Khwaja Alimullah. In his time, a stable and a family mosque was added in the compound. After his death, his son Khwaja Abdul Gani made a great flourish to the property, and named it “Ahsan Manjil” on his son Ahsan Ullah. In the east side of the old building, he made a new building with a different design, and also done great renovation work to the old building. Since then, the old building was called “Ondor Mohol” and the new building as “Rong mohol”.
In the evening of 7 April 1888, a devastating tornado hit Dhaka city causing great damage. Ahsan Manjil was severely damaged and abandoned. An English engineer from Kolkata arrived here to examine the palace. He gave opinion that except the “Rangmahal”, all other parts of the palace have to reconstruct. So Khwaja Abdul Gani and his son Ahsanullah turned their full attention to rebuild the palace. Both of the building was reconstructed during that time with a new design and supervised by the local engineer Gobinda Chandra Roy.
The old French building was reconstructed to a two storied building keeping similarity to the Rangmahal. A gangway was made with wood connecting the first floor of two building. The most beautiful thing made in this time was the dome, which made the palace so beautiful. After the death of Khwaja Ahsanullah in 1901, the glory of Ahsan Manjil was ended. His successors couldn’t continue the glory because of the internal family quarrel. They rented different parts of the palace to tenants, who actually made it a slum. In 1952, govt. acquired the property and left in supervision of the Dhaka Nawab court. In 1985, Dhaka National Museum acquired the property and made it a museum.
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[name] => Bir Sreshtho Mohammad Ruhul Amin Library & Museum
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Ruhul Amin (Bengali: রুহুল আমিন), better known as Shaheed Mohammad Ruhul Amin, was an engine room artificer in the Bangladesh Navy who was posthumously awarded the nation's highest bravery award for his service during the Liberation War. The Bangladesh Navy warship BNS Shaheed Ruhul Amin is named after him.
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Chittagong Circuit House and Zia Memorial Museum Chittagong Circuit House and is situated near Chittagong Stadium at Kazir Dewri and 3 km. North end of the Zero point. President Zia was killed on this circuit house on the date of May 30th 1981 in the room no 04. Most of Zia’s activities including his household goods are preserved in this museum. Actually the house was built by British for their government’s high officials' as there resident; this house was also used by Pakistani army as a torturing center during the liberation war of Bangladesh. Pak army killed thousands of Bengladeshi in this house. Still the building looking very good and you will taste the architecture of the then British period.
Written by: Akash Mahamud
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১৯৮১ সালের ৩০শে মে এই সার্কিট হাউজের ৪ নং কক্ষে রাষ্ট্রপতি জিয়াউর রহমান নিহত হন। এখানে রাষ্ট্রপতি জিয়ার ব্যবহার করা ব্যাক্তিগত সামগ্রী সংরক্ষণের পাশাপাশি তাঁর বিভিন্ন কর্মকাণ্ডের বর্ণনা রয়েছে। এই ভবনটি ইংরেজরা পদস্থন সরকারি কর্মকর্তাদের বাসভবন হিসেবে নির্মাণ করেছিল। এছাড়া স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধের সময় এই ভবনটি পাক বাহিনীর টর্চার সেল হিসেবে ব্যবহার করা হয়। বহু নিরপরাধ বাঙ্গালীকে ধরে এনে পাক বাহিনী এখানে অমানুষিক নির্যাতনের পর হত্যা করে। এখনও ভবনটি বেশ ভাল অবস্থায় রয়েছে। এখানে আসলে ইংরেজ আমলের স্থাপত্যশৈলীর জাকজমক চোখে পড়ে।
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[name] => National Museum of Science and Technology
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National Museum of Science & Technology (NMST) is an Attached Department of the Ministry of Science and Information & communication, the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. It was formed under an executive order of the then Pakistan Government on April 26, 1965. This museum is functioning as an unitary body.
The museum has several galleries like: Physical science gallery, Fun science gallery, Biological science gallery, Technological gallery, IT gallery and so on. Except those, there are a science park, a sky observatory, a science library and so on. The museum arranges different types of educational programme like : Popular science lecture, Scientific film show, Children science festival and so on. The museum also arranges National Science and Information & Communication Technology each year both district level national on behalf of the respective ministry. The museum also helps the young scientists in developing their works.
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On 21st February, a rally of students were coming towards Dhaka Medical College during the Language Movement in 1952. The police shoot towards the rally and instantly some of the protesters of the first line were killed immediately. One of them was Shahid Abul Barkat (1927-1952). Few days after, the Central Shaheed Minar was built in here and from 2000, UNESCO declared 21 February as the Mother Language Day.
Previous History: In 1947, Pakistan got independence from India. There was two parts of Pakistan- the east and the west. Eastern Pakistan was green by the bless of river God and populated with a lot of people and on the other hand, the western Pakistan was nothing but a desert, population was also low. Demographic, social and economical lifestyle of these two parts of land were completely different, language was different too. But the capital was established in the west and the rulers ruled the entire country living in the west. From 1947, Urdu was the only state language of Pakistan whereas the students of Dhaka university always wanted to make Bengali as a secondary language. Finally in 1952, after some students were killed in the language movement, the government decided to make Bengali as a second language. Later, the eastern part of Pakistan became an independent country by the liberation war in 1971 named Bangladesh.
Early Life of Abul Barkat: Abul Barkat was a student who came to Dhaka for his higher studies. He was born at Murshidabad, West Bengal (now India). He stayed at his maternal uncle's home during his stay in Dhaka. He was a student of Masters level while he is being killed by the police open fire on 21 February, 1952 (aged 24).
The Abul Barkat Memorial Museum: Abul barkat was died in Dhaka Medical College hospital on 21st February after 8:30 PM. Many people were killed on that day. It is strongly believed that, more than 90% of the dead bodies were hidden by the government which did not receive any ritual and never found. Abul Barkats body might be one of them but fortunately his body was found and identified and buried in the Azimpur Graveyard, Dhaka according to proper procedures of Muslim believe. Many stories have written about the killings of 21 February in the Bengali Literature.
The Memorial Complex is actually a library, a seminar hall and a gallery of photographs of the language movement. It was built and inaugurated in 2012 in the Palashi, Dhaka University area by the funding of the government. It is actually a language martyr museum not only just for Abul Barkat. It is just named after Abul Barkat. The Museum is open 6 days a week from 10 AM to 4 PM, except Fridays and national holidays (only 21 February & 16 December is an exception). No ticket or entry fee is needed to enter into the two storied memorial complex. From December to March, the institute arranges special video programs for the young students to let them aware of the language movement and the liberation war.
The Language martyr Abul Barkat was honored with the "Ekushee Padak" (the highest non military achievement in Bangladesh) by the Governmnet of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh in 2000. His grave is situated in Azimpur Graveyard in Dhaka.
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