Bangabandhu's Mausoleum is the

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...

, the founder and the first

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

People's Republic of Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

. It is located in Tungipara of Gopalganj district, the birthplace of Mujib, and was designed by architects Ehsan Khan, Ishtiaque Jahir and Iqbal Habib. After Sheikh Mujibur Rahman died in 1975, he was buried in Tungipara. For many years the military junta restricted access to the grave site. After the Awami League elected in

June 1996 Bangladeshi general election General elections were held in Bangladesh on 12 June 1996. The result was a victory for the Bangladesh Awami League, which won 146 of the 300 seats, beginning Sheikh Hasina's first-term as Prime Minister. Voter turnout was 74.96%, the highest to ...

, the department of archaeology officially started the construction of the complex, which was opened in 2000.

Background

After the

liberation of Bangladesh The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali ...

became the 2nd prime minister of the country after being released from Mianwali Jail in Pakistan and returning to his motherland. He then started living in his own residence with family instead of moving to the government residence. He lived in his own house till August 15, 1975. On that day, some disgruntled army officers carried out the

assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman The first president of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of his family were killed during the early hours of 15 August 1975 by a group of young Bangladesh Army personnel who invaded his Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, Dhanmondi 32 resi ...

. His wife

Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib ( bn, শেখ ফজিলাতুন্নেছা মুজিব; 8 August 1930 – 15 August 1975), also known by her daak naam Renu ( bn, রেনু), was the wife of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first President ...

, his sons

Sheikh Kamal Sheikh Kamal (5 August 1949 – 15 August 1975) was the eldest son of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, former President of Bangladesh and the younger brother of Sheikh Hasina, the current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. Early life and education Kamal com ...

Sheikh Jamal Sheikh Jamal (28 April 1954 – 15 August 1975) was the second son of Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh. Early life Jamal was born at Tungipara, Gopalganj on 28 April 1954. His father was Shei ...

, and

Sheikh Russel Sheikh Russel (October 18, 1964 – August 15, 1975) was the youngest child of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father and first President of Bangladesh. Russel and most of his direct family were killed in their home during the 1975 military ...

were killed in the attack on their residence. The next day, the military junta buried all but Mujib's body in the Banani graveyard. It was decided to bury Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his birthplace, Tungipara, away from the country's capital. The Director General of Forces Intelligence assigned a

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

to hand over his body to his village relatives and supervise the burial. Major Haider Ali and 14 army personnel brought Mujib's dead body to Tungipara by

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. They found a distant relative of Mujib named Mosharraf Hussain whom they entrusted to bury Mujib. When a village

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

was brought to perform the process, Ali asked him to bury the body without performing the

funeral rites A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect t ...

. Better than this, the imam said that if the dead person is a

Shaheed ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

, then he can be buried in this way. After listening to imam's answer, Major Ali asked to complete the funeral at low cost and quickly. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was buried next to his father after completing the burial. Entry to his grave area was restricted for many years and no one was allowed to enter.

Construction

In 1994, architect Ehsan Khan, Ishtiaq Zahir and Iqbal Habib were commissioned to convert Bangabandhu's residence in Dhaka into a museum. After they completed the work in 1995,

Sheikh Hasina Sheikh Hasina Wazed (''née'' Sheikh Hasina ; ; bn, শেখ হাসিনা ওয়াজেদ, Shēkh Hasinā, , born 28 September 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Prime Minister ...

asked them to build a mausoleum complex for Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Tungipara. A year later, after

Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people. The adjective appears in the following proper names: *Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan *Awami Front, wa ...

came to power, the government selected them to implement the mausoleum complex project. They were given two years to complete the project. The prime minister gave them the basic idea of what will be built under the master plan. The construction started in 1998. The foundation stone of the complex was laid on 17 March 1999 and inaugurated on 10 January 2001.

Layout

The mausoleum complex is situated on 38.30 acres land and has a tomb building. There are graves of three people including Mujib and his parents. The tomb is surrounded by a dome. There is a library with 6000 books with a museum. There is an exhibition center which houses pictures of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and some historical newspapers. There is an amusement park named after Sheikh Russel. Apart from this, there is Mujib's house and a Sheikh family mosque established in 1854. There is historical places related to the life of Mujib such as a pond, family garden etc. It has open stage, research center and so more. The complex has been designed in such a way that it fits into the village environment. Care was taken not to spoil the environment and nature of the area where the complex was built.

List of burials

In popular culture

Syed Fakhruddin Mahmud wrote a poem about the mausoleum titled ''Ekti Omor Somadhi'' ().

Gallery

File:2.বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান এর সমাধিসৌধ.jpg, Aerial view of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's mausoleum complex File:Simbol of nationalism.JPG, Mausoleum area File:Tomb of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tungipara.jpg, Tomb of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

References

External links

Mausoleum of Bangabandhu

Mausoleum of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
{{Gopalganj District Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

Museums in Bangladesh Tourist attractions in Bangladesh Memorials to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Buildings and structures in Gopalganj District, Bangladesh Buildings and structures completed in 2001