Hedayet Islam ShakilDept of Urban and Regional PlanningJahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka
Bangladeshi architectural characteristics
The
architecture of Bangladesh is a confluence of many architectural styles.The
architectural characteristics can be sub divided into four main parts this are
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Ancient period
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Mughal period
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British period.
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Modern period
Mughal
architecture in Bangladesh
In 1610 Dhaka became the capital of
Bengal, during the mughal Emperor
Jahangir, then many mosque, palace, fort, bridge, tomb are built in Bengal
according to Mughal architectural ways. Mughal has an unique architectural
character in their building and other structure. This is a blend of Islamic, Persian and Indian
architecture. The buildings of Mughal architecture reflects not on the
architectural techniques and wealth but also their love for poetry, personality
and other artistic inclinations. Mughal architecture has its origin in its
religion, Islam. The concepts apparent in Islam like power, pleasure and death
are reflected in the forts, durbars, mosques, tombs, gardens and so on.
Characteristics
of Mughal architecture: The main characteristics of Mughal
architecture are given below.
There is the existence of various
influences of the Persian and Hindu architecture in the Mughal architecture.-
The characteristic features of Mughal
architecture includes perfect or near perfect radial or bilateral symmetry, red
sandstone with white marble inlays, later pure white marble surfaces, geometric
ornament, domes which are slightly pointed instead of hemispherical ones and
garden surroundings.
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In addition to the fine-cut stone
masonry used for facades coursed rubble stone construction was used for the
majority of walls. For the construction of domes and arches baked brick was
also used although this was usually covered with plaster or facing stones. the
design of gardens is one of the most important aspects of Mughal architecture
which provided the setting for tombs and palaces and also helped for
relaxation.
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The Mughal Architecture or the muslim
style of architecture that progressed can also be termed as the Indo-Islamic
architecture. Hindu architecture was modified and elements of spaciousness,
immensity and extent were incorporated by the Mughals or muslim architecture.
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The buildings have domes and indentures.
The empire provided a protected framework or structure for the flourishing of
artistic pursuit and the rulers supplied mammoth wealth in these arenas.
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The buildings have a central dome &
a row of huge entrance.
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Main entrance is large than any-other
entrance and this entrance come out from the main structure.
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The trabeate stone construction, shallow
arches made out of corbels rather than voussoirs and richly ornamented carved
piers and columns are some typical Hindu features that have been incorporated
in the Mughal architecture.
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Other contructions like the chhatris- a
domed kiosk resting on pillars, chajjas and jarokhas- a projecting balcony
supported on corbels with a hood resting on columns became a part of the Mughal
characteristics.
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Extensive use of tilework, the iwan as a
central feature in mosques, the charbagh or garden, divided into four and the
four-centrepoint arch and the use of domes are the features borrowed from the
Persian architecture.
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The whole Mughal architecture is a fine
combination of so many local and foreign characteristics, which associates it universally
with many distinct forms of architecture.
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Over all it can say that the Mughal
structure show the power of emperor & their army.
The
Lalbag fort: The Lalbag fort is the perfect example
of Mughal architectural structure in Bangladesh. Here describe the
characteristics of Lalbag fort.
Lalbagh Fort(also known as "Fort Aurangabad")
is an incomplete Mughal palace fortress at the Buriganga
River in the
southwestern part of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Construction was commenced in 1678 by Prince Muhammad
Azam during his 15-month long vice-royalty
of Bengal, but before the work could complete, he was
recalled by Aurangzeb. His successor, Shaista
Khan, did not complete the work, though he stayed
in Dhaka up to 1688. His daughter Iran Dukht nicknamed Pari Bibi (Fairy Lady)
died here in 1684 and this led him to consider the fort to be ominous.
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v The
fort was long considered to be a combination of three buildings:
o the
tomb of Bibi Pari
v There are three surviving gateways, the
southern one is the most imposing. Seen from the front, it is a three-storeyed
structure with a front-on, bordered with slender minarets. From inside, it gives the impression of a two-storeyed structure. The
gateway on the northeast is a much smaller and simpler structure. Structural
evidence indicates that the fort extended to the eastern side, beyond the
present Shaista Khan Road. The third gate, now in the centre of the northern
boundary wall, was left incomplete. The present one is a recent construction.
v Like other buildings of Mughal, Lalbag fort
have a central dome & a row of three
entrance.
v The southern
fortification is a twin wall:
§
the outer one is about 6.10 m high and 1.37 m thick; and
§
the inner one is 13.7 m high with same thickness.
The two are solid up to a height of 6.10 m, and
there are regular openings in theupper part of the inner wall.
Ø The original
fortification wall on the south has five bastions at regular intervals, and the
western wall has two. Among the seven bastions, the biggest one is near the
main southern gate at the back of the stable, which occupies the area to the
west of the gateway. The bastion has an underground tunne
Ø The central area of the
fort is occupied by three buildings:
§ the
tomb of Pari Bibi in between the two (in one line, but not at equal distance).
v The mosque is a three-domed mosque, with a
water tank in front (on the eastern side) for ablution.
v The double-storeyed Diwan-i-Aam, attached
with a single-storeyed Hammam on its west, is an imposing building. The Hammam
complex includes an open platform, a small kitchen, an oven, water storage
area, a masonry brick bath-tub, a toilet, a dressing room and an extra room.
The Hammam portion has an underground room for boiling water, and a passage for
sweepers. A long partition wall runs north-south along the western facade of
the Hammam, dividing the whole fort area into two divisions.
v The tomb of Bibi Pari, located in the center,
is the most impressive of the surviving buildings of the fort. Eight rooms
surround a central square room that contains the mortal remains of Bibi Pari.
The central room is covered by a false octagonal-shaped dome, wrapped by a
bronze plate.The entire inner wall of the central room is covered with white
marble, while the four rooms at the sides had stone skirting up to a height of
one metre.
British
architectural feature in context of Bangladesh
Indo-saracenic designs were
introduced by british imperialist colonizers, promoting their own sense of “rightful
self-glorification”, which came to appeal to the aesthetic sensibilities of
continental europeans and americans, whose architects came to astutely
incorporate telling indigenous "asian exoticism" elements, whilst implementing their own
engineering innovations supporting such elaborate construction, both in india
and abroad, evidence for which can be found to this day in public, private and
government owned buildings. Public and government buildings were often rendered
on an intentionally grand scale, reflecting and promoting a notion of an
unassailable and invincible british empire.
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Again, structures of this design sort, particularly
those built in india and england, were built in conformance to advanced british
structural engineering standards of the 1800s, which came to include
infrastructures composed of iron, steel and poured concrete (the innovation of reinforced cement and pre-cast cement elements, set with iron and/or steel rods,
developed much later); the same can be said for like structures built
elsewhere, making use of the same design vocabulary, by local architects, that
would come to be constructed in continental europe and the americas:
indo-saracenic’s popularity flourished for a span of some 30-years.
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Notable, too, is that the british, in fact
europeans generally, had long nurtured a taste for the aesthetic exuberance of
such “asian exoticism” design, as displayed in innovative indo-saracenic style
and also in their taste for chinoiserie and japanned. Supported by the imagination of skilled artisans of various disciplines, exoticism promulgated itself across a broad demographic
of british, european and americas’ citizenry, adaptation of such design
innovations spilled over into and determined the aesthetic direction of major
architectural projects, expressing themselves in the baroque, regency and design periods
beyond.
British fascination with
the luxuriant exoticism found in the indigenous indian design milieu, whose
characteristics includes the following vocabulary list of design elements and
motifs (often paralleling and expanding upon the already ornateness of the
earlier venetian’s unique gothic-moorish, also known as venetian
gothic architecture ad-mixture)
References
·
Anon. "The Taj mahal". Islamic
architecture. Islamic Arts and Architecture Organization. Retrieved 22 may
2009.
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Taifoor, S.M. Glimpses of Old Dacca. Dhaka,
1956.
·
Prof R Nath/Ajay Nath. Monuments of Delhi
(Architectural & Historical) (Agra- 2010) - English translation of Syed
Ahmed Khan's Urdu work 'Athar'al-Sanadid of 1846 with original sketches and
inscriptions.
·
Rezavi, Syed Ali Nadeem (2002). "Iranian
Influence on Medieval Indian Architecture", The Growth of Civilizations in
India and Iran. Tulika.
·
Www/Wikipedia.com
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