The Lalbagh Fort

By Zannat Ara Amzad

Though a small country, Bangladesh has many world Heritage sites: The historic Lalbagh Fort of Dhaka, The Shatgombuj Mosque of Bagerhat, the ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur, Ahsan Manzil and The Sundarbans etc.

The Lalbagh Fort is an important Moghul monument of 16th century. It is a fine architectural achievement. It is an enormous Moghal architectural site by covering a very large area. Recently I visited this Moghal monument of the Lalbagh Fort with my mom and my cousin.

The Lalbagh fort is a Moghal monument. The Fort didn’t build directly by Moghal. It was built by provincial governor. In 1678 Moghal Emperor Aowrangojeb’s son Shahjada Ajam drew architecture of The Fort. In 1680 came to provincial governor Shaeysta Khan and he instantly started to construct The Fort. Suddenly in 1684 addition stopped The Fort construction. People thought that accidentally Shaeysta Khan’s elder daughter Pary bibi died, so they thought it is an inauspicious sign to build the Fort. Then The Lalbagh Fort remained uncompleted. Beside this, some people thought that, the construction of the Fort was stopped for the war in southern country. The Fort’s area was surrounded by a wall of 18 acre. The Fort has many monuments. Such as: there are three dome conspicuousness, mosque, pari biby’s shrine, audience-hall, soldier-barrack, main gate, gutter extraction to drainage and have an underground system etc.

Tiffani with her husband

When I went there then I saw many foreigners came to visit The Lalbagh Fort. Then I talked with them. At first I talked with Tiffani and her husband. Her husband is Bangladeshi, but he lives in UK. Tiffani felt very proud to visit The Fort. She is very funny and very nice.

After that I talked to Susana. She is so sweet-honey. She is very frank. She came with her friend. And her friend is Bangladeshi. She visited The Lalbagh Fort and she also enjoyed this place. Then I saw they were very happy to visit our country’s historical places. So, I feel glory for my country.

Really this Fort is wonderful. The Moghal Emperor’s architectural achievement was so good. I was so amazed to visit this place. The Moghal architecture is mind blowing. Really the scenery of Lalbagh Fort is very charming.

Such as:

Audience-Hall: The Lalbagh Fort’s audience-hall is two-storied superior. The Moghal administration-works were done in this audience-hall. Sometimes people used to live there for short time.

Now this audience-hall is used as a museum. This museum’s first’s floor has materials of war, made of iron net’s war-dresses, have a soldier dress, Humbam Khana (Royal bath), bath-tab, have a furnace and a toilet or a dress changes room etc. There is a royal bath. There was a system of steam bath. It is amazing.

And this museum’s second floor has some items on their many useful things. Such as: metal vessels, wall-hanging, many poetical-books ( these books’ languages are -- Urdu, Farsi, Arabian etc), many Holly Quran, many coins of silver, gold , copper coin, carving a character letter etc.

This museum is very nice and charming. When I saw this museum’s every side then I sometime I felt afraid that I went back in the Moghal period.

Pool: There is a charming pool in front of the audience-hall. The pool makes a reflection to glow the audience-hall.

Mosque: The three dome superior mosques are very wonderful artistry embedded.

Pari Bibi’s Shrine: Pari bibi’s shrine is made in a faint appearance to Agra’s Tajmahal. This shrine has 9 rooms. The Pari biby’s grave is in the middle of the shrine. Pari biby’s nick name is Irandut.

Soldier-barrack: The soldier-barrack is situated in front of the Pari biby’s shrine. At thes back side there is an underground visiting room.

Drainage: The drainage used to clean The Fort’s gutter.

Garden: The Lalbagh Fort’s has a very nice and big garden. This garden was built by following-up the style of Pakistan Shalimar garden. This Moghal garden is amazing. This garden’s every place is very wide. The garden has graceful and seasonal flowers. We can see the ixora in the rainy season. Muslea, petunia, Alamunda and many varieties flowers are here in this garden. The garden’s green grasses get a grown-up stage by the touch of rain. Really I feel charming to see the beauty of this garden.

At last I want to say that The Lalbagh Fort will be praised to era to era.