Dhaka
A block north of the central jail is Hussaini Dalan, looking more like a Hindu rajbari (landowner’s palace) than an Islamic building. It was built in 1642 as the house of the imam of the Shi’ia community. Though the architecture seems baroque in inspiration, the original building was purely Mughal.
The Hussaini Dalan changed somewhat with restorations after the 1897 earthquake, when the roof collapsed. You can see a silver filigree model of the original building in the National Museum.
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Running calmly through the centre of Old Dhaka, the Buriganga River is the muddy artery of Dhaka and the very lifeblood of both this city and the nation…
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Clouds of incense and a bursting paintbox of colours signal a welcome to so-called Hindu Street. Lined on either side with old houses, garlands of lurid…
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The excellent National Museum, sprawling over several floors, begins with the geological formation of Bangladesh, whisks you through a rundown of the…
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The half-completed Lalbagh Fort and its well-tended gardens are an excuse to escape Old Dhaka’s hustle and bustle for an hour or so. The fort is…
13.79 MILES
Constructed almost entirely between 1895 and 1905 on a small segment of the ancient capital city, the tiny settlement of Painam Nagar consists of a single…
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Dating from 1872, the must-see Pink Palace was built on the site of an old French factory by Nawab Abdul Ghani, the city’s wealthiest zamindar (landowner)…
7.81 MILES
The shady, tranquil botanical gardens, stretch over 40 hectares and contain over 1000 species of local and foreign plants, as well as lots of birdlife…
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Housed in a beautiful whitewashed colonial-era building, this small museum chronicles the 1971 War of Independence, one of the 20th century’s more deadly…
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Dating from 1921, Dhaka University, or just DU, has some fine old buildings. The architectural masterpiece is the red-brick Curzon Hall, a highly…
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This historic mosque, founded in the 18th century, makes an architectural nod to the Bengali 'hut' style of temple building.
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The quasi-Gothic red-brick Curzon Hall, erected in 1905 after the first partition of Bengal is Dhaka University's architectural masterpiece. It's a highly…
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This unusual mosque, with its striking mosaic decoration, dates from the early 18th century, although it has been radically altered. It was originally…
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Dhakeshwari Temple is the centre of the Hindu faith in Bangladesh. It is dedicated to Dhakeswari, the protector of Dhaka and an incarnation of the goddess…
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This dilapidated Mughal-era structure is one of the oldest buildings in Dhaka, although searching for it among the high-walled, pinched alleyways of this…
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This run-down Mughal-era structure dates from 1663, and was a caravanserai for visiting merchants. It was similar in design to nearby Bara Katra, but…