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forest railway
photo by sazzad khan

Railroad in the forest
Photo by Iqbal H. Khondker

tangail to mymensing road
photo by maruf

sylhet to zaflong
photo by shiri nahar sathi

road to savar from dhaka
photo by- shirin nahar sathi

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>> Kaptai Lake

>> Kantajir Mandir - buit in 1752

>> ST. Martin's Island

>> Chittagon Hill Tracks

>> Mosque Baba Adam

A slightly later date the elegant 6-domed mosque (13m x 11m) sq meters of Baba Adam in Rampal near Dhaka was erected by your Malik Kafur during the reign of the last Ilyas Shahi Sultan, Jalauddin Fateh Shah in 1483 AD. It displays the same characteristic features of the period such as the faceted octagonal turrets at 4 corners, the curved cornice. The one facade and 3 mihrabs relieved richly with beautiful terracotta floral and hanging patterns.

>> The Ahsan Manjil representing the era of Nawabs

It is situated at Kumartoli in old Dhaka on the bank of the river Buriganga. It was the residential palace and the kachari of the nawabs of Dhaka. It has recently been turned into a museum. The construction of the palace was begun in 1859 and completed in 1872. Nawab Abdul Ghani named it Ahsan Manzil after his son Khwaja Ahsanullah. Ahsan Manzil is one of the significant architectural monuments of the country. Established on a raised platform of 1 meter, the two-storied palace measures 125.4m by 28.75m. The height of the ground floor is 5 meters and that of the first floor 5.8 meters. There are porticos of the height of the ground floor, both on the northern and southern sides of the palace. A spacious open stairway has come down from the southern portico, extending up to the bank of the river through the front garden.

Internally, the palace is divided into two symmetrical halves on either side of the dome. There is a large drawing room in the east wing of the first floor. On its northern side there is a library and a card room, and in the eastern corner there are four square rooms. On the western wing of the first floor there is a spacious jalsaghar with a Hindustani room on the northern side and four square rooms in the western corner. The floors of these two rooms are made of wooden planks. On the ground floor there is a big dining hall and six square rooms in the eastern part. There are attractive wooden stairs in the room that is attached to the north of the domed room. The bauisters were ornamented with vine leaves made of iron along the railing of the stairs. The wooden ceiling of the room, decorated with geometric designs, is very elegant.

>> The Seat of Lost Dynasties

It is called the Seat of Lost Dynasties. About 8 km to the west of Comilla town, situated 114 km southeast of Dhaka, lies a range of low hills known as the Mainamati-Lalmai ridge, which was an extensive centre of Buddhist culture. On the slopes or these hills lie scattered a treasure of information about the early Buddhist civilization (7th-12th Century AD.). At Salban in the middle or the ridge, excavations have laid bare a large Buddhist Vihara (monastery) with an imposing central shrine. It has revealed valuable information about the rule of the Chandra and Deva dynasties which Flourished here from the 7th to the 12th century AD. The whole range of hillocks runs for about 18 km and is studded with more than 50 sites. A site museum houses the archaeological finds which include terra cotta plaques, bronze statues and caskets, coins, jewellery, utensils, pottery and votive stupas embossed with Buddhist inscriptions.

>> Lord Curzon Hall of Dhaka University

Curzon Hall meant to be a town hall, was named after Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India, who laid its foundation in 1904. A year later Bengal was partitioned and Dhaka became the capital of the newly created province of East Bengal and Assam. Following the annulment of partition in 1911 it was used as a premise of Dhaka College, and after the establishment of Dhaka University in 1921, became part of the university's science section and continues as such. Laid out in a spacious and carefully maintained garden, this double storeyed brick building has a large central hall, lateral wings on the east and west with several rooms, and a continuous verandah on all sides.

One of the best examples of Dhaka's architecture, it is a happy blend of European and Mughal elements, particularly noticeable in the projecting facade in the north which has both horse-shoe and cusped arches.

The style combined traditional art with modern technology and functions and favoured Mughal forms such as arches and domes, believed to have entered the Islamic world from the west. It marks the casting aside of veiled power after the sepoy revolt of 1857, and India's passing directly under the British Crown, seeking legitimacy by linkage to the Mughals. The red colour substituting for red sandstone, and the ornate brackets, deep eaves, and domed terrace pavilions (chhatris), specially of the middle section are strikingly reminiscent of the small but well-known Diwan-i-Khas in the palace fortress of Fatehpur Sikri, Emperor akbar's capital between 1570 and 1585. Not only were both cities new capitals, but the deliberate choice of the Fatehpur Sikri style may be explained by the fact that the British favoured Akbar as the wisest and most tolerant of all the Mughals, feeding into the ideal of their own role in India.

The Curzon Hall has attained a great significance in the history of the language movement. It was here, in 1948, the students of Dhaka University uttered their first refusal to accept Mohammed Ali Jinnah's declaration that Urdu alone would be the state language of the then Pakistan.

>> Chotto Sona Mosque/Small Gold Mosque

One of the most graceful monuments of the Sultanate period is the Chhota Sona Masjid or Small Golden Mosque at Gaur in Rajshahi. Built by one Wali Muhammad during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Husain Shah (1493-1519), it was originally roofed over with 15 gilded domes including the 3 ChauchaIqa domes in the middle row, from which it derives its curious name.

>> Lalbag Fort in Old Dhaka City

Tomb of Pari Bibi at Lalbag Fort

Qilla Mosque at Lalbag Fort

Lalbag Gate House in Labag Fort, Old Dhaka City

Lalbagh Fort, an incomplete Mughal palace fortress in Dhaka stood on the banks of the river Buriganga in the southwestern part of the old city. The river has now moved further south and flows at Quite a distance from the fort. D’Oily’s painting (1809-1 I) shows that more than half of this east-west oblong fortress touched the water of the river on its southern and southwestern sides. The construction of the fort was commenced in 1678 AD by Prince Muhammad Azam during his I 5 month long vice-royalty of Bengal.

For a long time the fort was considered to be a combination of three buildings (the mosque, the tomb of Bibi Pari and the Diwan-i-Aam), two gateways and a portion of the partly damaged fortification wall. In the present fort area of 7.2 hectares, excavations have revealed the remains of structures. Of the three surviving gateways, the southern one is the most imposing. Seen from the front it is a three-storied structure with a fronton, bordered with slender minarets. From inside it gives the impression of a two-storied structure.

A water channel with fountains at regular intervals connects the three buildings from east to west and two similar channels run from south to north. The building in the middle, the tomb of Bibi Pari, is the most impressive of the surviving buildings of the fort. Eight rooms surround a central square room, containing the mortal remains of Bibi Pari, which is covered by a false dome. Octagonal in shape, and wrapped by brass plate. The entire inner wall of the central room was covered with white marble. While the four side central rooms had stone skirting up to a height of one meter. The wall in the four corner rooms was skirted with beautiful glazed floral tiles. The tiles have recently, been restored; two of the original tiles have been retained. The southeastern corner room contains a small grave, popularly known to be of Shamsad Begum, possibly a relative of Bibi Pari. The Lalbagh Fort Mosque is a three-domed mosque with a water tank