View Single Post
  #3  
Old Posted Jul 3, 2007, 12:04 AM
tanzirian tanzirian is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 140
Dhaka Tour - Old Dhaka

Old Dhaka is southernmost part of the city, lying on the north bank of the Buriganga River. This was the extent of the city until 1905. With demand for new construction and low priority given to architectural conservation, not many of the city’s historic monuments survive. Among Mughal monuments, the Lalbagh Fort has been fairly well preserved, in addition to several mosques. Also from the Mughal period, a couple of formerly impressive caravanserais exist in a ruinous state. Besides mosques, there are a number of historic temples and churches. There are many beautiful and grand, but decaying, colonial era buildings, especially mansions. Of these, the Ahsan Manzil has been restored and serves as a museum.

Some images from around Old Dhaka:

Hussaini Dalan is the main worship site for the Shia community:


The Dhakeshwari Temple complex is the main worship shite for the Hindu community (this particular diety may be the origin of the name "Dhaka").
dhaka3 by Tanvir Mahtab, on Flickr

The Star Mosque (Tara Masjid) is the most notable example of a type of mosaic tile decoration that was once popular (the tiles date from the early 1900s, but the mosque is older):
dhaka2 by Tanvir Mahtab, on Flickr

The Balda Gardens were built by a wealthy landlord...


... while the Rose Garden was built by a rival.
dhaka1 by Tanvir Mahtab, on Flickr

Although the current city of Dhaka dates from the early 1600s, there were habitations in this area prior to that time. One wall of a mosque in the Old Dhaka dates from the 1400s, making it the oldest building in the city.

Last edited by tanzirian; Jan 5, 2018 at 3:42 AM.
Reply With Quote