Heritage trail of Dhaka

Preservation of historically important buildings is a growing practice throughout the global North. In Bangladesh, however, public knowledge and support for the preservation of historic places are lacking. There seems to be an obvious deviation from the UNESCO standard in that the majority of conceptual adaptations of heritage protection laws appear to overlook context, values, and history. Law enforcement and structural significance are given greater weight in Bangladesh than historical impact or regional identity. Its traditional and extinct character, its creative genius and technological triumphs from the past, and, altogether, its remarkable value are all neglected, leading to a lack of public awareness and inadequate law enforcement reach. To showcase the Mughal river forts, this article provides two case studies: Sonakanda fort and Hajiganj fort. The first section of the paper discusses the context of the area, local urban identity, and historic relevance in order to define the scope of the study. After then, a comparison was made between Bangladesh's current legal framework and the global standard for heritage protection. Finally, in order to address and reconcile these gaps to reality, public opinion was embraced. Eventually, a few suggestions were explored about the upgrading of those antiquated historical regulations and the safeguarding of urban heritage structures, the majority of which are in jeopardy because of the rapid urbanisation tendency and environmental pollution

Credit: author himself