There are no limits to Bangladesh’s breathtaking natural beauty, which has been enhanced by the grace of Mother Nature. As a result, even in a small nation like Bangladesh, there are numerous locations that might be considered as spectacular tourist destinations for the tourists of all ages from around the world. After reading this article, you will come to know some best tourist places in northern part of the country, most of which are also renowned as archeological sites:
- Tajhat Palace, Rangpur
- Vinnya Jagat Amusement Park, Rangpur
- Noyabad Mosjid (Mosque), Dinajpur
- Kantajew Tample, Dinajpur
- Paharpur Buddhist Vihara, Naogaon
- Mohasthan Garh, Bogura
- Natore Palace, Natore, Rajshahi
- Puthia Zamidar Bari, Natore, Rajshahi
Tajhat Palace, Rangpur
Tajhat Palace, also known as Tajhat Rajbari, is a historic palace in Tajhat, Rangpur, Bangladesh. This historic structure has been transformed into a museum and the Rangpur Museum is presently housed in this palace. The Palace is located on the outskirts of Rangpur, six kilometers south-east of the city.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century, the gem merchant Mannalal settled in Mahiganj for business reasons and later founded the Tajhat Zamindari. After the death of zamindar Mannalal, his adopted son Maharaja Kumar Gopal Lal Roy Bahadur started managing the zamindari.
In early 20th (twentieth) century, construction of the Tajhat Palace was completed. In fact, Kumar Gopal Lal Roy (1887-1955), a jeweler by trade who made his fortune in Rangpur did the job done. He was originally from Panjab. The strange name ‘Tajhat’ may have come from his job. ‘Taj’ means “crown,” and “hat” signifies “local market.” After his father died, he became the zamindar of Tajhat estate as a minor.
There are a few government-owned tourist places in Bangladesh, and Tajhat Palace is one among them. It is breathtaking in beauty and enormous in size. It is an example of a historical palace erected at the turn of the twentieth century.
The palace rises on two floors and faces east. There is a wide open space in front of the palace and it is around 76 meters. In the center, an imposing long staircase paved with imported white marble leads right above the portico to the upper storey.
Vinnya Jagat Amusement Park, Rangpur
A little away from the heart of Rangpur city, the ‘Vinnya Jagat’ theme park is located in the scenic setting of Ganjipur, just off the Rangpur-Syedpur highway.
“Vinnya Jagat” is a unique tourist destination built in a different way. A different world tourist center in educational tours is equipped to different degrees for students and fun seekers. Bangladesh’s first planetarium, robot skin zone, space journey, folk art museum set up in a Vinnya Jagat.
The Seven Wonders of the World are modeled after the Taj Mahal, the Pyramids, the Zoo, the Great Wall of China, the Moscow Clock, the Sundarbans and the Eiffel Tower. So we say that the world is seen in Vinnya Jagat now.
Thousands of native and foreign trees of the ‘Vinnya Jagat’ are buzzing with the noise of various species of birds. Idols of various animals including kangaroos, horses, elephants have been installed to entertain the children.
In Vinnya Jagat, there are arrangements for different groups of 500 people to have separate picnics at the same time. About 900 car parking facilities, 7 cottages, three star quality Dream Palace Hotel.
Also Vinnya Jagat water bodies have boating facilities and their own security system, which has established Vyranjagat as the biggest entertainment hub in the North.
Noyabad Mosque, Dinajpur
Noyabad Masjid has been renovated in 2019 keeping the archeological structure intact.
The Nayabad Mosjid (Mosque) is located in the village of Nayabad, Kaharol Upazila, and about 20 kilometers from Dinajpur district, beside the Dhepa River, Bangladesh. This mosque was constructed on 1.15 bighas of land. The plaque on the mosque’s main door is claimed to have been erected during Emperor Shah Alam II’s reign in 2 Jaistha, 1200 BS (about 1793). At the time, the last descendant of the Dinajpur royal family was Raja Vaidyanatha.
It was constructed during the reign of Mughal monarch Shah Alam II in 1793 CE. According to local legend, it was created by Muslim architectural workers who came from Persia to construct the Kantajew Temple for their personal purpose.
The rectangular Nayabad mosque has three domes. It has four octagonal minarets in its four corners. From outside, the length of the mosque is 12.45 meters and the width is 5.5 meters. The width of the wall is 1.10 meters. There are three arches on the eastern side to enter the mosque. The height of the central arch is 1.95 meters, the width is 1.15 meters. Lateral arches are symmetrical and relatively short.
The mosque has one window each on the north-south side. Door and window arches are multi-notched. Inside which there are three arches in the western part. The sides are slightly smaller than the central arch. The height of the middle arch is 2.30 meters and the width is 1.8 meters. There are many rectangular terracotta plaques throughout the mosque. Terracotta designs have been exposed in many places. The dimensions of the panels are 10.40 meters by 10.30 meters. The panels have foliage and floral designs. There are a total of 104 such rectangular panels.
Kantajew Temple, Dinajpur
Kantajew Temple is Bangladesh’s most beautiful Hindu temple and is the primary attraction of Dinajpur. Every inch of this temple is covered in magnificent ceramic plaques depicting legendary Hindu legends and 18th-century life.
Kantajew or Kantaji Temple, or Kantanagar Temple is an ancient Hindu temple located on the bank of river Dhenpa, around 20 kilometer north of Dinajpur city in Bangladesh. The temple is around 1 kilometer west of Dinajpur-Tentulia highway. It is also known as Navaratna Temple because the three storied temple had nine churas or ratnas. Kanatji Temple is a magnificent religious structure built in the 18th century. The temple is dedicated to the Hindu god Kanta or Krishna, and it is especially renowned among Bengal’s Radha-Krishna cult (a gathering of memorable love). This temple honors Krishna and his wife Rukmini.
According to the inscriptions of Kanatji’s temple, the then Maharaja zamindar Prananath Roy started the construction of this temple. Later, after the death of Prananath Roy in 1722, his adopted son Maharaja Ramnath Roy completed the construction of the temple in 1752. Kantji’s temple was then 70 feet high but the temple was damaged in the earthquake of 1897. Now its height is 50 feet. Around 15,000 terracotta tiles on the outer walls of this square temple are inscribed with Mahabharata, Ramayana and various mythological stories.
The inner deity can be seen from all sides of this three-tiered temple. All the 1st floor entrances feature multi-fluted arches, with two brick piers separating the arches. The pillars are beautiful and ornate. The temple has 21 arches on the 1st floor, 27 on the 2nd floor and 3 on the 3rd floor. On the western side of Kanatji’s temple there is a staircase leading up from the balcony.
Paharpur Buddhist Vihara, Naogaon
Paharpur Buddhist Vihara, or Somapura Mahavira is situated in Paharpur, Badalgachhi, Naogaon, Bangladesh. It is one of the most significant archaeological sites in the nation and one of the most well-known Buddhist viharas or monasteries on the Indian Subcontinent. In 1985, UNESCO declared it to be a World Heritage Site. It is among the most well-known instances of pre-Islamic architecture in Bangladesh.
Historical Archeological Monument Somapura Mahavira, or the Great Monastery, was a prominent intellectual center until the 12th century and provides evidence of the development of Mahayana Buddhism in Bengal beginning in the 7th century. This monastery-city, with its layout well suited to its holy purpose, is an exceptional work of art. It had an impact on Buddhist architecture as far afield as Cambodia because of its straight forward, symmetrical forms and abundance of carved ornamentation. Sri Dharmapaladeva, the second king of the Palavansh dynasty, had built this monastery in the late 8th or 9th century. And Sir Cunningham discovered this great feat in 1879.
The quadrangular structure has a huge temple in the courtyard center and consists of 177 cells excluding the cells of the center block in each direction. Each cell internally measures 4.26m X 4.11m. Each of the rooms has a door. These doors are wide on the inside but narrow on the outside. Niches are available in some rooms. A number of everyday items are found on the floor of rooms with niches. In late period, the dwellers of this place had built ornamental pedestals in 92 cells. Originally they built the cells as living rooms of monks, but subsequently these were used for worship and meditation. The monastery houses a traditional Buddhist stupa in the center. Only the archaeological borders that have been identified at the site so far might be regarded as the property’s boundaries.
Mohasthan Garh, Bogura
In Bangladesh, many historical structures have been discovered or discovered. Among these, Mahasthan Garh is one of the oldest and most significant urban archaeological sites. The village Mahasthan in the Bogura District’s Shibganj Thana has the ruins of an old city known as Pundranagara or Paundravardhanapura in the area of Pundravardhana. A limestone slab discovered in 1931 with six lines in Prakrit in Brahmi script detailing a land gift dates Mahasthan Garh to at least the third century BC. Until the 8th century AD, the fortified area was in use.
There are 4 thousand years old structures here. Powerful Maurya, Gupta and other kings used Mahasthan Garh as their provincial capital. Pundranagar used to be the main capital of the Pala kings. The ruins of this huge city are located on the western bank of the Karatoya River, which not only contains the past heritage of Bogra, but the whole of Bangladesh.
The enormous ruined wall of Mahasthan Garh stands silent testament to a rich history. Outside the fort, within seven to eight kilometers of the north, west, south, and southwest, a variety of antique monuments bore evidence to the sub-city. The Barendra region (Bogra, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Rajshahi, Maldah) was the original home of the Pundras. In 1931, Mahasthan was identified as an ancient Pundranagari.
After the fall of the Gupta kings, King Shashanka established a powerful kingdom. After Shashank’s death, the famous Chinese traveler Wan Chun came to Pundranagar in 693 to visit Buddhist sites. He saw many Buddhist temples and ashrams built by Emperor Ashoka. According to his description, Pundra city was a prosperous city and its area was about six miles. This road was much like Athens, Babylon, Egypt. Pundranagari became Mahasthan Garh during the prosperous Muslim rule of Bangladesh.
Natore Palace, Rajshahi
This location is known by various names among the locals. Some refer to it as the Natore Rajbari, while others refer to it as the Rani Bhabani Palace. Pagla Raja’s Palace and Natore Palace are other names for this structure. Whatever you choose to name it, this Rajbari is one of Bangladesh’s most stunning royal palaces, and it was formerly the residence and seat of the Rajshahi Raj family of zamindars.
The majestic but crumbling Natore Rajbari, one of Bangladesh’s oldest rajbaris (dating from the early 1700s), was once the nerve center of undivided Bengal’s second-largest zamindari (land revenue estate), which lost its sheen in the 19th century. The entire complex, which is surrounded by ponds and lined with centuries-old shade trees, is actually a collection of seven rajbaris, four of which are still mostly intact. One palace holds a police station, another a government building, and several more are simply in ruins.
Built in the seventeenth century in the ancient town of Natore district, Rani Bhavani Rajbari was declared as Rani Bhavani Central Park by the Government of Bangladesh in 1986. Rani Bhavani Central Park has 6 dighis and 3 temples namely Shyamsunder, Tarakeswar Shiva and Anandamoyi Kalibari, which were once used for royal worship. This palace is better known as Natore Rajbari.
Rani Bhavani Rajbari is divided into two parts called Big Taraf and Chhota Taraf. The Natore palace Complex has 8 small and big buildings in an area of 120 acres. Although there are some differences, it can be said for sure that Rani Bhavani built the Rajbari of Natore between 1706 and 1710. Raja Ram accepted a bill of 180 bighas from the then king of Puthiya, Darpanarayan, as a life gift and built this palace and other structures. The main complex on the large side was used as Rani Bhavani’s Raj Prasad. Natore Rajbari is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm.
Puthia Zamidar Bari, Rajshahi
Puthia Rajbari in Rajshahi is one of the archaeological heritages of Bengal. In 1895, Maharani Hemantakumari Devi built the rectangular two-storied palace in the Indo-European architectural style.
The Puthia Rajbari is an attractive edifice built on a two-storied rectangular plan on the south side of Puthia Bazar. The main entrance to the multi-chambered Rajbari is the Lion Door on the north side. Zamindars or kings used to conduct their royal affairs from here. This palace had a system of prisons with a system of administered charity for the guilty.
The facade of the Rajbari, built with lime mortar and small-sized bricks, shows an interesting Indo-European architectural style. For the security of the palace, there was a system of reservoirs around. Members of a local zamindar family built it in the 19th century. Although it is an antiquities under the rules of the Department of Archeology of Rajbari, it is currently being used as Loshkorpur Degree College.
Puthia Rajbari is surrounded by a moat. Today local people call the moats by various names such as Shiva Sarovar or Shivasagar, Gopalchowki, Bekichowki, Govinda Sarovar and Marachowki. Besides, there is a huge pond and they call it Shyamsagar. It is in the middle of Rajbari area.
The total land area of this moated palace is 25.93 acres (excluding Shyamsagar in the center of 6.00 acres). Several magnificent temples built by the zamindars in and around Puthia Rajbari are still standing tall. After the division of partners, five Ani and four Ani palaces were built separately. Apart from these two palaces, today no one could find any trace of the houses of the partners. Puthia was formerly a village in Laskarpur Pargana and it was named after Laskar Khan Nilamber. He was the brother of Puthia’s first zamindar, who was the first to obtain the title of Raja from Mughal emperor Jahangir. In 1744, the them government had partitioned the estate into four co-shares, among which the panch ani (five annas) and char ani (four annas) co-shares became famous in conducting jamindary.
