Know old Dhaka history of 400 years at Tk 2!

Desk Report: Rabeya Begum, a resident of Gendaria, visited Dhaka South City Corporation many times but she never noticed the city museum (Dhaka Nagar Jadughar) located on the fifth floor of DSCC.
Like many others, she went to the DSCC office on Monday last, but she was greatly surprised to know that a museum preserving priceless relics of 400-year history of old Dhaka is located on the fifth floor of the city corporation office.
But Rabeya was more surprised as she came to know that the museum can be visited only for Tk 2.
Talking to the daily sun, Rabeya said, “Visiting the museum feels like walking to the history of 400-year old Dhaka. This museum is a host to a variety of eye-catching relics of the past and a visitor needs only a Tk 2 ticket to visit the place.”
“At the city museum, I watched coins of different shapes and currencies painted with photographs of historical figures of Sultani period, Mughal emperors, British lords, Indian leader Mahatma Ghandhi, Pakistan’s Mohammad Ali Zinnah and Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman,” she said.
“Watching the rare collection of priceless relics persevered by the museum authorities, it appears to me that I get lost into old time of our city. To me, it’s been a valuable source of entertainment.”
“Going back home, I’ll ask my children to visit the museum, so that they can gather knowledge watching the precious relics,” she promised.
Talking to the daily sun, teenage visitors Rasel and Sagor said photographs of different Sarders, including Majed Sarder, Maola Box Sarder, Abdul Gani Sarder and Abdul Salam Sarder, with descriptions of their administrative rules on their respective parts pasted on the decorated walls broaden the opportunity for visitors to know how they ruled.
Besides, pictures of cultural events, festivals, religious celebrations of the Sultans and the great Mughals also traced old history.
Historical establishments, including Ruplal House, Rose Garden, Lalbag Fort, Bahadur Shah Park, Dakeswari Temple and Canon of Gulisatn in old model arouse considerable interest among visitors.
Pictures of Kashida festival, Muharram celebration, extinct bull-drawn cart, couch making by craftsmen and cutter machines are enough to arouse one’s feeling of past hunting.
Photographs of muslin and waver machine dive elder visitors into hallucination.
The museum also accommodated Dhaka’s two old newspapers – Dacca News, a weekly English newspaper published on March 18, 1856, and Dhaka Prakash on March 7, 1861 along with an old model press machine.
Bhopendranath Chakraborty, supervisor of the museum, said many mementoes connected to the history, tradition and culture of Dhaka have been collected so far and the city museum has published 13 research works concerning cards, posters and booklets on different historical sites of Dhaka town and various other themes about Dhaka.
Officials of social welfare department of cultural affairs said the museum was established on private initiative by Prof Muntasir Mamun, Prof Sirajul Islam, town-planner Nazrul Islam, architect Rabiul Hussain and artist Hashem Khan, which was named as Dhaka City Museum on June 20, 1987.
Primarily, it was installed at Pacha Bhai lane of Old Dhaka with an aim to preserve the historical relics and cultural heritage of Dhaka city.
Before being shifted to the Dhaka City Corporation on July 20, 1996 by late mayor Mohammad Hanif, it was shifted to several other places, they said.
Munni Aktahr Pushpo, a ticket-seller at the museum, said, the ticket price is only Tk 2 which is a surprise for the visitors who come to the museum for the first time.
Md Luthfur Raman, deputy social welfare and cultural officer, said we are planning to set up the museum at a convenience place of Nagar Bhaban, enriching it with more historical documents to facilitate visitors more clear picture of Dhaka’s 400 years of history.
It will probably be set up on the ground floor, he added.