The inauguration of new jail facilities at Keraniganj paves the way for the expansion and development of museum and recreation facilities at Dhaka Central Jail.
Being located at a former Mughal fort, the move will also help to preserve older heritage and open up much needed public space in a congested part of Old Dhaka.
It is fitting the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum and National Four Leaders Memorial Museum on the site will now gain the space to feature more exhibits.
Bangladesh needs better museums.
Well-designed and properly managed museums do more than just help educate people about our past.
Good museums provide a focus for research and scholarship which can help to shape a better future by increasing appreciation and insight of the heritage and legacies that have shaped our society.
The best museums are living spaces, which go beyond merely building a monument to the past. They bring history to life by both engaging well with academics and attracting newcomers to become interested in heritage.
It is welcome then that this year’s remembrance of Mujibnagar day brought an announcement that the long-planned museum complex on the site will be completed in the coming year.
As the place where Bangladesh’s first government in exile was formed, at the Baidyanathtala mango grove in Meherpur in 1971, it is of historic importance.
The experience of the Liberation War Museum, which is now constructing a new building at Agargaon, is instructive. It has successfully managed to build a program of engagement with international bodies, while at the same time attracting huge interest from ordinary members of the public through its outreach work and education tours.
Bangladesh has much to gain in its public life and scholarship by supporting initiatives to develop better, more accessible museums.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
