Bangladeshi terracotta is visible on its many Hindu and Buddhist temples.

To see the Bangladesh of today against its glorious history, it is both enlightening and depressing to imagine that Bengal used to occupy such a place of glory and power in the subcontinent. During the 16th century, its wealth supported the Mughal Empire, and at its zenith in the mid-18th century, Bengal’s cotton and silk textiles were in demand worldwide with Dutch, Portuguese, British and French traders landing on its shores. However, the late colonial period marked a substantial change as the British proved themselves successful at draining Bengal of its wealth and destroying its cotton industry. Despite its past triumphs, 1943 proved to be the watershed year in this demise, when a terrible famine gripped the people, leaving an estimated three to five million dead from starvation, a tragedy from which modern Bangladesh has yet to fully recover. To understand such atmospheric heights and catastrophic falls, let us start from the beginning.

Homaira and Taimur of Dhaka’s Urban Study Group have started offering guided explorations of Old Dhaka, on both the weekends and weekdays, in an effort to see some of the older buildings preserved and restored. Here’s a quote from their recent mailings regarding the preservation work they’re attempting to do:

While our documentation of the other mohallahs of Ward 72 are going on, we have started documenting the Sutrapur and Farashganj area also . At present we are trying to start actual restoration work on few small-scale projects in Shakhari Bazaar and Tati Bazaar which we hope will have a snowball effect; we’ll soon send out detailed information on the projects.

Today’s update is about another heritage building at risk. A grand mansion is being demolished in Farashganj for redevelopment by the owners. USG has already documented the building and trying to negotiate with the owners with conservation proposal with the half that is still standing and is also trying to persuade the goverment officials regarding the possible modification of the current building construction rules to facilitate conservation while protecting the economic interest of the owners/developers.

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