Ahsan Manzil (
Bengali:
আহসান মঞ্জিল) was the official residential palace and seat of the
Dhaka Nawab Family. This magnificent building is situated at Kumartoli along the banks of the
Buriganga River in
Bangladesh. The construction of this palace was started in the year 1859 and was completed in 1869. It is constructed in the
Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture. To preserve the cultural and history of the area, the
palace became the Bangladesh National Museum on 20 September 1992.
History: In mughal period, 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 Kumartuli and included in his garden house. Here he
built a beautiful palace and named it “Rangmahal”. 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 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.
In that time, the French became very wealthy 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 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 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
prosper 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 was called “Rong mohol”.
In the evening of 7 April 1888, a great tornado hit Dhaka city
causing great damage. Ahsan Manjil 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 reconstruct. 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.
Description and Construction
Ahsan Manzil has now been converted into a museum and a popular tourist attraction of old
Dhaka.
Ahsan Manzil is one of the most significant architectural monuments of
Bangladesh.
The building structure was 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 the height of the first floor 5.8 meters.
The thickness of the walls of the palace is about 0.78 meters. There are
porticos of 5 meters height on the northern and southern sides of the
palace. The building has a broad front-facing the Buriganga River. On
the river side, an open spacious stairway leads right up to the second
portal and on their stands the grand triple- arched portals. There was
once a fountain in the garden in front of the stairs which does not
exist today. All along the north and the south side of the building run
spacious verandahs with an open terrace projected in the middle.
The palace Ahsan Manzil is divided into two parts: the eastern side
and western side. The eastern building with the dome is called the
Rangmahal and the western side with the living rooms is called
Andarmahal. The high octagonal dome is placed on the central round room.
There is a large drawing room, card room, library, state room and two
other guest rooms are located on the east side of the palace. The
ballroom, the Hindustani room and few residential rooms are situated on
the western side. A beautiful vaulted artificial ceiling, made of wood,
decorates the drawing room and the Jalsaghar. A splendid dining hall and
few smaller rooms are placed on the west part. The floors of the dining
and darbar halls are decorated with white, green and yellow colored
ceramic tiles. The famous store room, where the valuables of the nawabs
used to be stored, was in the middle of the five rooms located in the
western half of the ground floor. Along with those rooms a Darbar Hall
or assembly hall and a chest room is also place there.
Glory days
Nawab Sir Salimullah with his family in front of Ahsan ManzilIn 1874, Lord Northbrook,
Governor General of India
attended an evening function in the palace when he came to lay the
foundation of a water works installed by Nawab Abdul Ghani. In 1888,
Lord Dufferin also accepted the hospitality offered at Ahsan Manzil. In 1904 Lord Curzon, on a visit to
East Bengal, stayed in this palace on 18 and 19 February to win public support for the proposed Partition of Bengal.
Ahsan Manzil, an architectural treasure, is a witness to many
historical events of Bangladesh. From the last part of the 19th century
to the initial years of Pakistan, the Muslim leadership of East Bengal
emerged from this palace. The nawabs of Dhaka used to conduct their
court affairs here as chief of the panchayet (village council) everyday.
Many anti-Congress meetings were held here under the patronization of
Nawab Ahsanullah, a staunch believer in Muslim identity. Almost all the
Viceroys, Governors and Lieutenant Governors of British India who
visited Dhaka spent some time at the Ahsan Manzil. Almost all political
activities of
Nawab Khwaja Salimullah centred round this palace. Ahsan Manzil was the cradle of the
All India Muslim League. With the decline of the
Nawabs of Dhaka, Ahsan Manzil also started to decline.
Renovation
Recognizing the historical and architectural importance of the Ahsan
Manzil, the government of Bangladesh took the initiative to renovate it.
In 1985 Ahsan Manzil and its surroundings were acquired. After the
completion of the renovation work in 1992 under the supervision of the
Directorate of Public Works and Architecture, it was brought under the
control of Bangladesh National Museum (20 September 1992). A museum has
been established there. Considering the historical importance and
architectural significance of Ahsan Manzil palace, the government was
trying to conserve it since the later part of the Pakistani rule. The
father of nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
canceled its auction proposal option. On November 2, 1974, he ordered
to establish a museum and tourist center after its proper conservation.
Idrakpur Fort, Munshiganj
The fort, quadrangular in size, consists of two main
parts: i) the wider open area surrounded by curtain walls crowned by machicolated
merlons with engaged rounded corner bastions pierced by musketry, and
ii) the smaller area containing a round drum of huge dimension surrounded
by another series of similar curtain walls. An approach to the drum is
provided from the bigger court. A small magazine exists just at the foot
of the drum. On the top of the drum is the residential quarters of the
Deputy Commissioner; the fort itself serves as a jail now. 
