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Dhaka Day by Day

Ahsan Manzil Wakes up Again

by Sharier Khan
Ahsan Manzil. the sleeping beauty of British Dhaka.. wakes up today (Sunday) after a slumber of nearly half century.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia today In augurates the renovated palatial mansion, unveiling the beauty and history of the Brttish-Utled Nawabs of Dhaka.
Once a complete palace for the Nawabs serv a often-times as a pleasure house for the Bri-
RaJ top brass, the Ahsan Manzil is now a museum, open to the common people for a taste of what was aristocracy.
The magnificent 31 -chamber house, the huge dome atop, the spacious steps of the portico, well laid out gardens around — all reveal a patch of time forming a link in a chain that carved the history of the land and its people in its own pc culiar way.
Khwaja Allmullah. the founder of the dynasty, bought the property on the bank of the river Burtganga. from french merchants in 1835
His son Khwaja Abdul Ghani shaped his inheritance into the present palace in 1872 and mimed It Ahsan Manzil after his son Khwaja Ah-sanulah.
The cataclysmic cyclone in 1888 severely damaged the palace and it was re-constructed with a dome atop.
During the turn of the century, the palace became a nucleus of the country's politics and culture. It turned into a centre not only of high politics but also of pubic welfare specially Involving the Muslims of the Dhaka city
LSomc of the major decisions having direct nd profound bearing on economy, social welfare and culture of British Bengal during the close of the 19th century and early 20th century, look shape In this palace.
In Ahsan Manzil. an old city of centuries witnessed in awe the glare of its first electricity and saw running water, duly filtered. That was the beginning of electrifying Dhaka city and a complete water works supplying the needs of the city.
As time went by. the Nawabs palace lost all its splendour of gold and silk with uncare and decay stalking the colonnaded mansion.
Following the war of Independence in 1971. the successor of the property left It abandoned.
Soon the palace of Nawab became a beehive of small traders, the garden — a grazing ground for the city cattle with a teeming crowd encroaching on the precincts of the Manzil
The main entrance on the north, where •Shchnal in the Nahbatkhana used to usher every day break and sundown, is now a vibrant cloth market.
The government In 1972 made the palace Into a public property and on April 11. 1985 de cidcd to renovate It. turning it into a museum "The Ahsan Manzil renovation, beautification a^i turning Into museum" project of the Bangladesh National Museum under the Culture Ministry got started in March. 1986.
The 13-crorc-taka project, a Joint venture of Culture and Works ministries, was set to be completed in 1989 But II took Iwo more years to be finished.
The well-furnished museum houses drawing room, dining room, slate bed chamber, the Hindustani chamber, the ball room, staircase, bll Hard and card rooms, the strongroom, and the library.
Most of the 'Nawabi' furniture arc original — while a few arc close to the original, although without the gems and stones.
The Dhaka Museum and the Wprks Ministry authority tried their best to reproduce the materials the Nawab s family used The
authority used photographs of I the details ol the Manzil tak en early this century for this purpose.
For security reasons particu lar parts of the Manzil were co I ns true ted anew. I while a new sin i trease Is added I inside the pal a
And now with the renovated pink-colour ma nsion on the 4.96 acres of land and 23 galleries inside, the Ahsan Manzil Mu seum stands and boasts of its regained beauty