Monday, 7 December 2015

Chittagong Court Building, very historical and heritage site in Bangladesh




 A big architecture is situated on the peak of a high hill known as Parir Pahar or Fairy's Hill in Chittagong. It can draw a huge number of visitors. This has been in use since British rule. The old red building still stands strong.
                  


Built: It was built soon after British took over in 1761, said Chittagong history researcher Abdul Haque Chowdhury in his book ‘Shahar Chttagramer Itikotha’(History Chittagong city).antiquity researcher Shamshul Hossain, however thinks the building was build in mid nineteenth century.
                                       



Myth: A nearby myth says, two hundred years of age building was built by Portuguese pirates. There was a tunnel from the building that joined Karnophuli River through which pirates would visit covertly. From the two tower's tops, watchman would direct observation all around. Henceforth neighborhood call it’ the Portuguese Fort' However, Historians say that myth does not have any notable evidence. Rather, it is a British colonial building that was utilized as the first court of Chittagong. Henceforth, its name is 'Darul Adalat' although assembled by the English amid their standard; the name 'Darul Adalot' is a Persian word which signifies 'court building'. Antiquarians say that this is because soon after the British took over the rule from Mir Kashim in 1760, the kept on utilizing Persian as the official language till 1837.
                          


Engineering attributes: the two story building has unique architectural traits. The walls are made of brick lime-mortars and each are three feet wide. There are sixteen rooms in the building. Plus, two towers on the North-East and North-West corner. Inside the towers, three are two spiraling staircases. Profound dimness wins inside the towers even in sunny days. The towers topped by two small domes. Be that as it may, no passage could be found, in the building territory of 0.775 acres. At present, weeds have assumed control over the building and vast splits are obvious in a few rooms. The building is an example of Indo-British style of architecture developed in Bengal. It typifies both European and Mughal customs with a couple of beautifying indigenous themes, and especially in its arrangement, it is impacted by the Mughal mosque construction modeling. The geography of the site obviously managed the other specialized part of the arrangement. It was mainly laid in a rectangular structure running east west, the eastern end having a noteworthy north-south developed wing. The sloping dejection was balanced in the eastern constructing so as to wing a three-storied part on the northern end, the rest being of two storied. This wing additionally contains the fundamental person on foot passage from the east through a lavishly enlivened angled opening.


 Historical events: The building is a witness to many historical events of anti-British struggle including quit India movement, Swadeshi Andolan, Language Movement and War of Liberation in 1971. The trial of Masterda Surya Sen and other revolutionaries like Lakonath Bol, Ambika Chakraborty and Ananta Singh was held in the building.
 How to go: Chittagong town is 264 km away east of Dhaka, available bus, train, airline from capital of Bangladesh.
Chittagong's international airport besides domestic services to and from Dhaka. It is the 2nd busiest in Bangladesh. Situated in Patenga, it has international services to destinations such as Abu Dhabi,Dubai,  Kolkata,Sharjan, Muscat, Jeddah, and Kuwait. Formerly known as MA Hannan International Airport, but was renamed on April 2, 2005 by the Government of Bangladesh. Major airlines that serve the airport include Biman Bangladesh Airlines,GMG Airlines,Flydubai. Train and bus also run Dhaka to Chittagong
Where to stay: Hotel Bandargaon, 875 Nur Ahmed Road, +880 (0) 31 637686. checkout: 12PM. Near Hotel Al-Faisal, it's also a good choice. Rooms around Tk 600.  
Hotel Eastern View, 225/A, Sk. Mujib Road, (Chowmuhony) Agrabad, Phone: 00880-031-2510567,2514935, Hot Line: 00880 01727-739 839,01710-914 448, 01811-227 888, E-mail: easternview@ctgtel.net. The newest hotel in Chittagong. It is well equipped, 24 hours service, lift, standby generator, all kinds of food in room, Internet, hot & cold water, secretarial service. It's run by ex-managers of renowned hotels & staff are really good, whole atmosphere is quiet & clean.
Hotel Sylhet Super, 16 Station Road, +880 (0) 31 632265. checkout: 12PM. This is a very large hotel west of the train station, good if you need to be in this areaAfter negotiating 500 Tk. The rooms are not clean. 02.09.2014 Tk 300-1000.  
  Hotel Golden Inn, 36 Station Road, +880 (0) 31 611004. checkout: 12PM.