Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort is the most popular and renowned fort and a great signature of art by Mughal Empire in Bangladesh. It is also known as Fort Aurangabad. It is located in Lalbagh of old Dhaka, hence named so. It is situated by the bank of the river Buriganga in a rich red soil. 

History of Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort is an incomplete structure by a Mughal prince and later emperor himself named Muhammad Azam (third son of Aurangazeb). He started the work of the fort in 1678 during his vice-royalty in Bangladesh (Previous Bengal). He stayed in Bengal for 15 months. It remained incomplete when he was called by his father Aurangazeb to the capital Delhi. 

Shaista Khan was the new Subedar (Governor) of Dhaka in that time, and he did not complete the fort. In 1684, the daughter of Shaista Khan named Iran Dukht (Pari Bibi) died there. After her death, he started thinking the fort as ominous, and left the structure incomplete. Among the 3 major parts of Lalbagh Fort, one is the tomb of Pari Bibi.

 

After Shaista Khan left Dhaka, it lost its popularity. The main cause was that the capital was shifted from Dhaka to Murshidabad. After the end of royal Mughal period, the fort became abandoned. In 1844, the area achieved its name as Lalbagh replacing Aurangabad, so the fort as Lalbagh Fort.

Different parts of Lalbagh Fort

Lalbagh Fort consists of three buildings:

• The Mosque (west side)
• The tomb of Pari-Bibi (middle of east-west of the fort)
• The Diwan-i-aam palace (east side)

The mosque was used for prayer in that time, and still in use. The beautiful structure and the handy work there are great. People get amazed by seeing this kind of royal art. Many Islamic art and wall designs are preserved there.

 

Shaista khan couldn’t make this fort better but designing the tomb of Pari Bibi gorgeously. He brought Marble stone, tiles, handy-crafts of flower-leaves there. This is the only place in Bangladesh where 9 rooms under there decorated with this kind of items. The roofs are made of black stones. In the top of the tomb, the dome is covered with pure copper. This beautiful 20.2 meter tomb was inaugurated in 1688.

Diwan-i-aam is the greatest part of Lalbagh Fort. It was used as office in that time. Diwan-i-aam is the place from where the Mughal ruler gave directions to the ordinary people once in a week. There is also a royal bathroom known as Hammam. 

There are 3 gateways to enter the fort. The southern gateway is the most important and one can see it from Buriganga. It has a three-storied structure. But the middle structure is covered by Minaret. That is why it looks like a 2 storied structure.

In the total area of Lalbagh fort there are also Royal gardens and a drainage system. After a certain time Mughal emperor Aurangazeb donated the fort to Shaista khan in memory of his daughter Pari Bibi. The successor of Shaista khan got revenue after his death by leasing the fort to the government. After 1853 the cantonment was replaced in Lalbagh Fort from Purana Paltan. Currently, the Archaeological department of Bangladesh is maintaining this Historical place. This has become a key tourist attraction in Dhaka. Almost 3 million people visit this place every year.

Ahsan Manzil ( Nawab's Home )

In mughal period, there was a summer 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 Kumartuli and included in his summer house. Here he built a beautiful palace and named it “Rangmahal”. He used to entertain here keeping beautiful girls collecting from home 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 one doomed cemetery of Sheikh Enayet Ullah in the north-east corner of the palace yard, which was ruined in the beginning of 20th century.

Probably in the period of Nawab Alibardi Khan around 1740 A.D., 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 doing business here in competition with the English and other Europian 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 Manzil, which was called “Les Jalla” in that time. In the English-French war, French got defeated and all their properties was 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 Kumartuli.

In 1785, the English 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 prosper to the property, and named it “Ahsan Manzil” 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 than, the old building was called “Ondor Mohol” and the new building was called “Rong mohol”.

Restoration of Ahsan Manzil

In the evening of 7th April, 1888, a great tornado hit Dhaka city causing great damage. Ahsan Manzil was greatly 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 be reconstructed. So Khwaja Abdul Gani and his son Ahsanullah turned their full attention to reconstruct the palace. Both of the building was reconstructed during that time with a new design made 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 doom, which made the palace so beautiful.

After the death of Khwaja Ahsanullah in 1901, the glory of Ahsan Manzil was ended. His successors couldn’t continue the glory for 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.

Star Mosque (Tara Masjid) in Old Dhaka

 

Star Mosque is located at Armanitola in Old dhaka, about 350m north of the Armenian Church. It is one of the most famous tourist attractions of Old Dhaka. The mosque, both inside and outside, is decorated with mosaic. The outer wall between the doors are decorated with the motif of Mount Fuji on glazed tiles and a crescent-and-star design decorates the upper part of the facade. Hundreds of blue stars have been created on the domes of white marble. All over the mosque the motif of stars dominate the decoration and so the mosque is called the Star Mosque (Tara Masjid in Bengali).

The mosque is not dated by any inscription. It is known that one Mirza Golam Pir, whose ancestors had come to Dhaka and settled in Mohalla Ale Abu Sayeed (present-day Armanitola), erected it. Mirza Golam Pir died in 1860, and hence the date of construction of the mosque may conveniently be placed in the first half of the 19th century.

It was originally built in the typical Mughal style, with four corner towers. In 1926 a local businessman financed its redecoration with Japanese and English China-tiles, and the addition of a new veranda, almost doubling the width of the mosque without changing its original plan. Five arches were erected on four pillars on the eastern facade of the verandah. In 1987 the three-domed mosque was transformed into a five-domed mosque.

Non-Muslims are normally welcome outside of prayer time, but you should dress appropriately and women should bring something with which to cover their hair. The mosque is normally closed outside prayer time, but the caretaker of the mosque will open it for you to visit any time if you ask.