Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Clock Towers in Bangladesh


All Clock Towers in Bangladesh:

1. Dhaka City Corporation (Nagar Bhaban) Clock Tower, Dhaka:

Dhaka City Corporation (Nagar Bhaban)

Dhaka Nagar Bhaban, completed 1995, a building that houses the government of the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is home to the mayor’s office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Dhaka City Corporation. The building is situated behind the Dhaka University campus.

Dhaka City Corporation (Nagar Bhaban)


The building was designed by A. Imamuddin and Lailun Nahar Ekram, and was completed in 1995. it is a 15-storey city hall building containing offices, a bank, meeting rooms, a museum, dining facilities, a prayer hall, the Mayor's Office, and public terraces. The building has huge columns and arched gateways in the entrance and at the back. The building is very symmetrical. There are two clocks at the top of the building on the north and south face. The building has a finished concrete texture, which gives the building a timeless appearance and a lower maintenance cost. The garden in front helps one to have a better view of the building.


Dhaka City Corporation (Nagar Bhaban)


2. RAJUK Bhaban Clock Tower, Dhaka:

RAJUK Bhaban, Dhaka

RAJUK Bhaban is the head office of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK), which is literally the Capital Development Authority of the Government of Bangladesh. RAJUK Bhaban is situated at RAJUK Avenue, Dilkhusha, Dhaka-1000. This is one of the most well known buildings of the Dhaka city.


RAJUK Bhaban, Dhaka
 Rajuk Bhaban is an important architectural monument of Dhaka city. It is one of the primitive buildings of East Pakistan. It is a very congested building. There were so many black columns in the middle phase of RAJUK bhaban, which created much confusion about the perfect uses of the column in architecture. Architect Thariyani didn’t think about the climate to design this bhabon. RAJUK Bhaban is mainly a west face Bhaban, which consists of two different buildings named RAJUK, the main building and the RAJUK annex building. These two buildings are connected by a small over bridge. RAJUK main building is a six storied building and RAJUK annex building is an eight storied building. There is a big clock in the top face of the main building, which bears a great significance RAJUK Bhaban.



RAJUK Bhaban, Dhaka


3. St. Thomas Church Clock Tower, Dhaka:



St. Thomas Church, Dhaka
St Thomas Church is a Anglican Church which is also known as The Church of Bangladesh. The church premise was in an area of lush greeneries with the famous Bahadur Shah Park at a stone’s throw distance on the south. The north-south axial Nawabpur/Johnson Road, the most important commercial street connecting the old part of the city with the new, is on the west and separated the area from the court, Bank, DC's office and Jagannath University buildings across it. In fact the church overlooking the greens is a major focal of the city centre in the nineteenth century. The attraction of this building, built after the style of east churches, with a square clock tower with arch windows on its walls.

St. Thomas Church, Dhaka

St. Thomas Church, Dhaka

St. Thomas Church, Dhaka

4. Ali Amjad’s Clock Tower, Sylhet:

Ali Amjad’s Clock Tower, Sylhet
 Folk lore refers to the installation of the clock tower, by Nawab Ali Ahmed Khan in 1874, as inspiration drawn from the one in Chandnichawk in Delhi, India, set up by Shahzadi Jahan Ara. Ali Ahmed, also a philanthropist in his day, named the tower after his son Nawab Ali Amzad Khan. An alternate version of the story claims that it was Ali Amzad who established the historic icon himself. But, this information is considered as farce, as Ali Amzad was only three years old - being born in 1871 - when the clock was built. The spot used to be a great in attracting tourists - local, from adjacent villages, and foreign - as all were very curious to know how the big watch functioned. 

Ali Amjad’s Clock Tower, Sylhet

Ali Amjad’s Clock Tower, Sylhet