Museum and gallery, Dhaka

Bangladesh National Museumবাংলাদেশ জাতীয় জাদুঘর

Time needed: Two to three hours.
best months: Nov–Feb
Cost: Small ticket; higher for foreign visitors.

The country's largest museum at Shahbag: sculpture, coins, textiles, natural history and the Liberation War over four floors.

At a glance

Founded: 1913
Present building: 1983, Shahbag

About

The museum grew from the Dhaka Museum founded in 1913 and moved to its present building at Shahbag in 1983. Its galleries run from stone and bronze sculpture of the Pala and Sena periods to Mughal-era coins and arms, nakshi kantha and muslin, folk art, and the flora and fauna of the country.

It is big; pick a few floors rather than trying to see all of it.

Getting there: Metro to Shahbag; the museum is beside the station.

Things to do

See the sculpture galleries and the textile rooms.

Good to know

A good plan for a rainy or hot afternoon.

Getting there

Read the Dhaka guide

Nearby

Monument and memorialSajid Muhaimin Choudhury (Transfered by Boles Shikmim/Original uploaded by Smcbuet) · CC BY-SA 3.0

Curzon Hall

1 km, Dhaka

A red-brick hall of 1904 that mixes European and Mughal styles, now the science faculty of Dhaka University and one of the city's best-loved buildings.

Hindu templeRagib Hasan · CC BY 2.5

Dhakeshwari Temple

2 km, Dhaka

The national temple of Bangladesh, an old shrine of the goddess Dhakeshwari after whom, by tradition, the city is named; the centre of Durga Puja in Dhaka.

Monument and memorialMostaque Ahammed · CC BY-SA 2.0

Central Shaheed Minar

2 km, Dhaka

The monument to those killed in the 1952 language movement, beside Dhaka Medical College, where the whole country lays flowers on 21 February.

Fort and palaceজারির · CC BY 2.5

Lalbagh Fort

2 km, Dhaka

An unfinished Mughal fort of the 1670s by the Buriganga, with a mosque, an audience hall and the tomb of Pari Bibi in walled gardens: the best-known old monument in Dhaka.