Dhaka
The pink palace of the Nawabs of Dhaka, now a museum.
The palace stands in the old riverside quarter of Dhaka, among wholesale markets, warehouses and ghats. Walk the lanes of Islampur nearby, long known for its cloth trade, to see Old Dhaka’s business life much as it has run for generations.
Ahsan Manzil was the palace of the Nawabs of Dhaka, the family of landowners who were the city’s leading Muslim household in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nawab Khwaja Abdul Ghani built the palace on the bank of the Buriganga and named it after his son, Khwaja Ahsanullah; it was completed in 1872.
A tornado badly damaged the building in 1888, and in the rebuilding it gained the tall dome that is now its best-known feature. For decades the palace was the centre of Dhaka’s political and social life, where viceroys, governors and leaders were received.
After the Nawab family’s fortunes declined, the palace fell into disrepair. The government restored it, and since 1992 it has been a museum under the Bangladesh National Museum. Its rooms show the furniture, portraits and household objects of the Nawabs, and the grand staircase and wide verandas still look out over the river.
Walk through the Nawabs’ rooms, the grand hall and the staircase, then out to the riverside veranda.
From the nearby ghats, hire a small rowing boat for a short trip to see the palace and the launches from the water.
Watch the launches load and the river traffic at the terminal next door.
Take a rickshaw north for kacchi biryani and borhani.
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October to March; arrive in the morning, before the afternoon crowds.
On the Buriganga near Sadarghat: a rickshaw from Gulistan or Bangshal.
