LALBAGH FORT (The Aurangabad Fort)

LALBAGH  FORT 
The Aurangabad Fort

DHAKA

Lalbagh kella or Aurangabad Fort is a Mughal palace castle located at the south-western side of Buriganga River. Construction was started in 1678 by Prince Muhammad Azam, When he was viceroyalty of Bangla. But before finishing the work, he was recalled by Aurangzeb.
His heiress, Shaista Khan, did not finished the work. though he stayed in Dhaka upto 1688. Shaista Khan's daughter Iran Dukht or Pari Bibi died here in 1684 and she has been buried in this castle
  

Layout of fort

The fort is combination of three buildings: the mosque the shirin of Pari Bibi and the Diwan-i-Aam, consisting two gate and a portion of the partly depreciated castle wall.

Department of Archaeology of Bangladesh now maintained the fort. however. In the Current fort area of eighteen acres (73,000 m²). 26 or 27 structures are exhibited now, with elaborate arrangements for water supply, sewerage, roof gardens, and fountains. Reparation work has now put Lalbagh Fort in a
much-exalted configuration, and it has now become an importent tourist spot for local and foreign visitor.
  
Gateways
Of the three surviving gateways, the southern one is the most imposing. Seen from the front, it is a three-storeyed structure with a front-on, bordered with slender minarets. From inside, it gives the impression of a two-storeyed structure. The gateway on the northeast is a much smaller and simpler structure. Structural evidence indicates that the fort extended to the eastern side, beyond the present Shaista Khan Road. The third gate, now in the centre of the northern boundary wall, was left incomplete. The present one is a recent construction.
  
The southern fortification wall, running westward from the South Gateway, stretches up to the huge bastion in the southwestern corner of the fort. It runs northward for a distance, and is then lost. The boundary wall on the eastern side, connecting the southern and northern gateways, is a modern wall, and it is now assumed that the fort originally embraced areas further east, beyond the present Shaista Khan Road. h
On the northern side of the southern fortification are placed utility buildings, such as the stable, the administrative block, and its western part accommodates a beautiful roof-garden, with arrangements for fountains and a water reservoir. The residential part is located on the eastern side of the western fortification, mainly to the south-west of the mosque, where the remains of a sewerage line have been found.
The southern fortification is a twin wall: the outer one is about 6.10 m high and 1.37 m thick; and


the inner one is 13.7 m high with same thickness.
The two are solid up to a height of 6.10 m, and there are regular openings in the upper part of the inner wall.
The original fortification wall on the south has five bastions at regular intervals, and the western wall has two. Among the seven bastions, the biggest one is near the main southern gate at the back of the stable, which occupies the area to the west of the gateway. The bastion has an underground tunnel. Among the five bastions of the southern fortification, the central one is single-storeyed, while the rest are double-storeyed structures. The central one contains an underground room with verandahs on three sides, and it can be approached either from the riverside or from its roof. The double-storeyed bastion at the southwestern corner of the fort is possibly a Hawakhana, with a water reservoir on its roof.
Two lines of terracotta pipes have been found that connect all the establishments of the fort with the reservoir. An extra-strong terracotta pipe line, made with double pipes (one inside the other), has been uncovered in the area between the Hammam and the tomb of Bibi Pari.

The area westwards from the stable, parallel to the southern fortification, once had a beautiful roof garden with fountain, rose, flower beds (marked with star designs), and a water reservoir. The buildings underneath contains the administrative blocks, and the residential part on the western side. 

Central area:

The central area of the fort is occupied by three buildings:the Diwan-i-Aam and the Hammam on its east; the mosque on the west; and
the tomb of Pari Bibi in between the two (in one line, but not at equal distance).The mosque is a three-domed mosque, with a water tank in front (on the eastern side) for ablution.A water channel, with fountains at regular interval, connects the three buildings from east to west, and two similar channels run from south to north:one through the middle of the ground, in between the Diwan-i-Aam and the tomb, forming a square tank, with fountains at the intersection with the east-west channel; and the other, from the water reservoir, passing through the bottom of the tomb.

The water channels and the fountains, a very common feature of Mughal architecture, create an atmosphere, not unlike those of the north Indian Mughal forts. A big square water tank (71.63 m each side), placed in front of and to the east of the Diwan-i-Aam, between the southern and northern gateways, adds to the beauty of the building. There are four corner stairs to descent into the tank.

NATORE RAJBARI

Natore Rajbari

NATORE

How can i reach there:   District: Natore >  Natore Rajbari

The name of Rani Bhabani is that most nearly Related with what may be the most Impressive of the many palace in Bangladesh.

The Rajbari, or Zaminder palace continues to be one of the most familier places in Bangladesh for those for whom such hold attraction, and some of the Edwardian Neoclassical and Baroque pavilions serve as offices for government administration, which at least ensures a modicum of maintenance.

There are, in fact, to palaces, or Zaminderbari, in Natore, in Rajshahi Division of Bangladesh. The most ancient is, clearly, the Natore Rajbari: the other is Dighapatiya Palace, an Edwardian brick masterpiece, now known as Uttara Gono Bhaban, the official northern Presidential and Prime Ministerial residence.

This latter palace, for security reasons, is not easy to gain admission to, and it is forbidden to photograph; however, alittle way north, towards Bogra, stand the fine Pooja halls constructed for the earlier Raja, or Zaminder. These latter are certainly worth a visit.

The original Rajbari, the Natore Rajbari, sprawls across a wide area, and it is easy to miss some of the fine array of architectural monuments. It is, howver, in the area, the old palace ruins that are, in a very interesting site, the most compelling.

It is often claimed that Rani Bhabani was responsible for building this palace, but since it is clearly of Mughal origin, it seems likely that its origins were earlier. Born in 1716, to a Brahmin family living near Bogra, in 1731, not unusually, at the age of 15, she was married to Raja Ramakanta, the landholder under the Mughal dynasty of much of the Rajshahi area. It seems likely that the old palace was already his residence.

On his death in 1748, she became the landholder, also in the Mughal period known as the zaminder, although with somewhat less onerous duties than developed later.

Perhaps one of the most remarkable women in the history of the women of the area that was to become Bangladesh, her management of the vast landholdings she inherited made her famous. She not only maintained excellent relations with the Mughal Nawabs, the last independent one being the vanquished at the Battle of Plassey in 1757, but also with the developing regime of the East India Compant, who changed the role of Zaminder to one with far greater fiscal responsibility.

Until her death in 1795, she was famous for her extensive use of her influence and wealth on behalf of the communities that were her responsibility. A devout Hindu, although much of her work included the building of fine temples, both in the lands of Bangladesh, and in what is now West Bengal, in India, it was also focussed on the well being of Muslim and Hindu alike, sponsoring medical facilities, water storage tanks, roads and road houses for travellers.

The Rajbari that she knew in Natore was largely destroyed in the Great India Earthquake of 1897, but the brickwork and terracotta of those ruins describe a magnificent palace.

The zaminders of the late 19^th Century replaced the buildings ruined by the impressive structures that remain. It takes the better part of a day to do justice to all that is to be seen there in the sprawling, tree studded acres, one of the few such places in Bangladesh to offer such ease of access and reasonably well maintained grounds.

How can i reach there:

 District: Natore >  Natore Rajbari

SHAILAIDAHA KUTHIBARI

Shailaidaha Kuthibari

KUSHTIA

 
How can i reach there:

>District: Kustia >Sub-district: Kumarkhali > Union: Shilaidaha >Shilaidaha Kuthibari 

Tagore, Rabindranath (1861-1941) is a bangali poet. It is basically as a poet that he gained renown all over the world. He was rewarded the Nobel Prize in 1913 and he was the first Asian poet to have been rewarded this award. This house is called as Kuthibari.This is Located at Kustia district of Bangladesh. Proprietor of this house was Rabindranath Tagoe and now it is used as museum.

Carries memory of  poet Rabindranath Tagore who made Regular visit to this place
and used to stay in connection with his Zamindari. It is located at a distance of about twenty km.
from main town.

SHAT GOMBUJ MOSQUE

Shat Gombuj  Mosque

BAGERHAT

How can i reach there:

District: Bagerhat >Shat Gombuj Mosque


There has three world heritage sites in Bangladesh. The Shat Gombuj Mosque in Bagerhat district is one of them. It is a 15th century Islamic Building situated in the suburbs of Bagerhat, on the beside of the Sundarbans.

The Sixty Pillar Mosque or the Shat Gambuj, a mosque situated in Bagerhat district, on the eastern bank of a water tank name takur dighi is one of the ancient mosques in the country, and is described as "historic mosque representing the Golden Era of Muslim Bengal". It is Established over an area
of 160 feet (49 m)x108 feet (33 m) size. The Shat Gombuj mosque is unique in the sense that it has sixty pillars that support

77 exquisitely curved "low squat domes" that have Assumed away with the passage of time; it has 7central domes that are 4-sided and built in Bengali form. It was used for prayers, assembly hall and madrasa. Seventy 7 domes are over the roof and 4 smaller ones at the 4 corners are towers. The towers were used to call for prayers. The huge prayer hall has eleven arched doorways on the east and seven each on the north and south which provide ventilation and light to the hall. There are also seven longitudinal aisles and eleven deep-drawing bays in the midst of slim columns which made of stone. The curving arches by these columns supported that are overlaid by the domes. There has 11 mihrab inside the west wall that are decorated with stonework and terracotta's and the flooring is of brickwork. The walls and the mihrabs were invaded by sulphates. Most of the damages have been reformed. It was founded in 1440 by ruler Khan Jahan Ali.

The arches are six feet (1.8 m) thick with a slight taper over the hollow and round walls. The mosque also functioned as the court of Khan Jahan Ali. It now attracts a huge number of traveler and visitors every year. The Shat Gombuj mosque is equipped mainly with terracotta and bricks.