Sunday 19 February 2012

Beautiful Bangladesh

Jatiyo Sriti Soudho

(Jatio Sriti Shoudho) or National Martyrs' Memorial is a monument in Bangladesh. It is the symbol of the valour and the sacrifice of those killed in the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which brought the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistani rule. The monument is located in Savar, about 35km north-west of the capital, Dhaka.It was designed by Syed Mainul Hossain.

History:
Plans for the monument were initiated right after the independence, in 1972. Following the site selection, road and land development, a nation-wide design competition was held in June, 1978. Following evaluation of the 57 submissions, Syed Mainul Hossain's design was chosen. The main structure and the artificial lake and other facilities were completed in 1982

.
Shaheed Minar

Ekush is Bangla for 21, and Ekushey means 21st. In Bangladesh, ‘Ekushey' is synonymous with ‘Ekushey February', the day when Bangladesh celebrates its Bangla Language Movement and honors those who sacrificed their lives in its name on 21st February, 1952.
To commemorate this movement and the fallen ones, Shaheed Minar, a solemn and symbolic sculpture, was erected in the place of the massacre. The monument is the symbol of Bangladesh Nationalism. Each year on 21st February, starting from early morning, hundreds and thousands of people walks in bare feet to pay their respect to the martyrs singing remembrance songs with garlands in hand at the Shaheed Minar. The men and women wear only black and white cloths.

Cox’s Bazar beach
 
The main attraction of Cox’s Bazar is the world longest but least-crowded sandy beach which stretches from the mouth of the Bakkhali River and going all the way to Teknaf. Though normally known as Cox’s Bazar beach, but the beach stretches far beyond the region designated as Cox’s Bazar town. The setting for the beach with its silvery gold sand is tropical-forested hills.
“Miles of golden sands, surfing waves, rare conch shells, towering cliffs, delightful seafood, tribes, colorful pagodas and Buddhist temples” – this is not a literary description for Cox’s Bazar beach, it’s an illustration for the eager person who want to imagine the beach. The beauty of the beach cannot be described by writing as no suitable word you can get to describe it.

  

The National Parliament of Bangladesh

It is one of the most majestic public buildings in Bangladesh. The National Parliament (Sangsad Bhaban) complex is located at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar of Dhaka city. The National Parliament Building is an architectural masterpiece for which the nation can be said to be justifiably proud.

The decision to construct the National Parliament Complex at Dhaka was originally taken in 1959. Louis I Kahn. one of the greatest architects of the time was initially selected for designing the complex. which would include the National Parliament Building. Hostels for members of parliament. ministers and secretaries. hospitality halls and communally buildings. All linked by roads and walkways and surrounded by attractive gardens and lakes. The main characteristic of the building is its monumentally. The mass of concrete lined with marble strips, the outer wall punctuate by pure geometrical openings and the dominating circular and rectangular concrete masses impart a supreme monumentality to the building quite suited to its noble function.

The main building complex consists of nine individual blocks, of which eight at its periphery rise to a height of 35 meters, while the octagonal block at the centre shoots up to 52 meters. The central block accommodates the Parliament chamber with a capacity of 354 seats for members of the parliament. The entire complex has a floor area or 76,487 SQ meters in the main building, 20725 sq meters in the South Plaza and 6,041 sq meters in the North Plaza.


Bangladesh National Museum

The Bangladesh National Museum : Preserves and displays the cultural property and heritage, as well as specimens of natural history of Bangladesh. Its mission is to establish a bridge between the past and the present and uphold the national tradition and culture. It is located at Shahbag, Dhaka. The museum is well organized and displays have been housed in several departments like department of ethnography and decorative art, department of history and classical art, department of natural history, and department of contemporary and world civilization. The museum also has a conservation laboratory. The museum was formally inaugurated on 20 March, 1913. The four-storied building of the museum has 43 galleries on a total floor space of 238,000 square feet. The galleries include: Bangladesh in maps; Rural Bangladesh; Sundarbans; rocks and minerals; plants; flowers, fruits and creepers; animals; birds; mammals; elephant; life in Bangladesh; boats of Bangladesh; tribes of Bangladesh-1; tribes of Bangladesh-2; potteries; archaeological artifacts; sculpture-1; sculpture-2; architecture; inscriptions; coins, medals and ornaments; ivory works; arms and weapons; metal works; porcelain and glassware; dolls; musical instruments; textiles and costumes; embroidered quilts; wood carvings-1; wood carvings-2; manuscripts and documents; traditional and miniature paintings; Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Gallery; contemporary art-1; contemporary art-2; eternal Bangladesh, portraits of national heroes, historical documents and mementos of national heroes, martyred intellectuals; war of liberation-1; War of Liberation-2; world art-1; world art-2 and portraits of world personalities. The museum has two auditoriums - one with 700 seats and the other with 200 seats, a temporary exhibition hall and office rooms for officers and the staff.







 
Royal Bengal Tiger

 sundarbans

The Sundarbans (Bengali: সুন্দরবন, Shundorbôn) is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.[1] The name Sundarban can be literally translated as "beautiful jungle" or "beautiful forest" in the Bengali language (Shundor, "beautiful" and bon, "forest" or "jungle"). The name may have been derived from the Sundari trees that are found in Sundarbans in large numbers. Alternatively, it has been proposed that the name is a corruption of Samudraban (Bengali: সমুদ্রবন Shomudrobôn "Sea Forest") or Chandra-bandhe (name of a primitive tribe). But the generally accepted view is the one associated with Sundari trees.
The Sundarban forest lies in the vast delta on the Bay of Bengal formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers across Saiyan southern Bangladesh. The seasonally-flooded Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The forest covers 10,000 sq.km. of which about 6,000 are in Bangladesh. It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 km², of which about 1,700 km² is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometers.
The Sundarbans is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The interconnected network of waterways makes almost every corner of the forest accessible by boat. The area is known for the eponymous Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), as well as numerous fauna including species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles and snakes. The fertile soils of the delta have been subject to intensive human use for centuries, and the ecoregion has been mostly converted to intensive agriculture, with few enclaves of forest remaining. The remaining forests, taken together with the Sundarbans mangroves, are important habitat for the endangered tiger. Additionally, the Sundarbans serves a crucial function as a protective barrier for the millions of inhabitants in and around Khulna and Mongla against the floods that result from the cyclones.




Lalbagh Fort

 (Fort Aurangabad) is an incomplete Mughal palace fortress at the Buriganga River in the southwestern part of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Construction was commenced in 1678 by Prince Muhammad Azam during his 15-month long vice-royalty of Bengal, but before the work could complete, he was recalled by Aurangzeb. His successor, Shaista Khan, did not complete the work, though he stayed in Dhaka up to 1688. His daughter Iran Dukht nick named Pari Bibi (Fairy Lady) died here in 1684 and this led him to consider the fort to be ominous.
Lalbagh Fort is also the witness of the revolt of the native soldiers against the British during the Great Rebellion of 1857. As in the Red Fort in India, they were defeated by the force led by the East India Company. They and the soldiers who fled from Meerat were hanged to death at the Victoria Park. In 1858 the declaration of Queen Victoria of taking over the administrative control of India from the Company was read out at the Victoria park, latter renamed Bahadur Shah Park after the name of the last Mughal Emperor who led that greatest rebellion against then British empire.



 Choto Sona MasjidOne of the finest monuments of the Sultanate period is the Choto Sona Masjid or Small Golden Mosque at Gaur in Rajshahi. Built by a Wali Muhammad during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Husain Shah (1493-1519), was originally covered more than 15 golden domes, three ChauchaIqa domes in the middle row, from which it derives its curious name.