Varendra Research Museum

On 21st February, a rally of students were coming towards Dhaka Medical College during the Language Movement in 1952. The police shoot towards the rally and instantly some of the protesters of the first line were killed immediately. One of them was Shahid Abul Barkat (1927-1952). Few days after, the Central Shaheed Minar was built in here and from 2000, UNESCO declared 21 February as the Mother Language Day.

Previous History: In 1947, Pakistan got independence from India. There was two parts of Pakistan- the east and the west. Eastern Pakistan was green by the bless of river God and populated with a lot of people and on the other hand, the western Pakistan was nothing but a desert, population was also low. Demographic, social and economical lifestyle of these two parts of land were completely different, language was different too. But the capital was established in the west and the rulers ruled the entire country living in the west. From 1947, Urdu was the only state language of Pakistan whereas the students of Dhaka university always wanted to make Bengali as a secondary language. Finally in 1952, after some students were killed in the language movement, the government decided to make Bengali as a second language. Later, the eastern part of Pakistan became an independent country by the liberation war in 1971 named Bangladesh.

Early Life of Abul Barkat: Abul Barkat was a student who came to Dhaka for his higher studies. He was born at Murshidabad, West Bengal (now India). He stayed at his maternal uncle's home during his stay in Dhaka. He was a student of Masters level while he is being killed by the police open fire on 21 February, 1952 (aged 24).

The Language martyr Abul Barkat was honored with the "Ekushee Padak" (the highest non military achievement in Bangladesh) by the Governmnet of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh in 2000. His grave is situated in Azimpur Graveyard in Dhaka.

National Museum of Science & Technology (NMST) is an Attached Department of the Ministry of Science and Information & communication, the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. It was formed under an executive order of the then Pakistan Government on April 26, 1965. This museum is functioning as an unitary body.

The museum has several galleries like: Physical science gallery, Fun science gallery, Biological science gallery, Technological gallery, IT gallery and so on. Except those, there are a science park, a sky observatory, a science library and so on. The museum arranges different types of educational programme like : Popular science lecture, Scientific film show, Children science festival and so on. The museum also arranges National Science and Information & Communication Technology each year both district level national on behalf of the respective ministry. The museum also helps the young scientists in developing their works.

Currency Museum is located at Mirpur beside Bangladesh Bank Training Academy. This project is taken regarding the enlargement of the currency museum into money museum. The country’s eminent artists, architects and historians have worked together for the museum along with the central bank to make it launch.

Museum authority has collected local and foreign coins and banknotes in different ways to enrich this museum. The museum has now thousands of coins and notes from the Pala, Sena, Gupta, Sultani, Mughal and British periods. About 2500 coins and notes found in Wari-Bateshwar of Narsingdi will be reserved in this Museum. Bangladesh Numismatic Collectors’ Society handed over 100 coins of different eras to the Currency Museum of Bangladesh Bank.

The historically significant deposited coins included 48 of the Alauddin Hossain Shah era, 29 of Nasiruddin Nusrat Shah, four of Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, five of Sikandar Shah, three of Giasuddin Azam Shah, three of Rukunuddin Barbak Shah, two of Nasiruddin Mahmud, one of Mahmud Shah, one of Shahjahan, two of Badsha Alamgir , one of Islam Shah and one of the Shah Alam era.

A museum, first of its kind in Bangladesh, will help young people to know about the currency’s history and its evolution. Not only the history of Money, this museum will also help people to get acquainted with the lifestyle, education, culture and various aspects of archaeological evolution of human civilization through coins and currencies of different eras.

It showcases coins and banknotes, which are witnesses to history, to uphold the history and heritage before the present and future generations. Efforts are already on to collect old coins and install digital signage, touch screens, LCD monitors etc to equip the ‘Taka Museum’ into a modern, prosperous, state of the art, rich in information and technology-based museum.It has been established with modern technology to attract visitors.

The Governor, Expressed his appreciation in people of the society who are coming forward to enrich the collections of the Taka Museum of the bank, Dr Atiur Rahman said those institutions and individuals who would handover old coins as presents to the museum would be gladly accepted and the presenters would be properly recognized.

Background History: A currency museum was set up in the Bangladesh Bank in 2009, which was displaying currencies of almost all countries of the world. Initiatives had been taken to expand this museum to open the 'Taka Jadhughar’. At the end, the central bank's existing currency museum is being restructured as the 'Taka Jadughar'. The restructuring of the 'Taka Jadhughar' took place on the premises of Bangladesh Bank Training Institute at Mirpur. Along with this, the central bank is collecting obsolete coins and banknotes to exhibit in the gallery.

Bangladesh Air Force Museum became open for the public on October 2014 at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Agargaon, Dhaka. It is located at the western side of runway adjacent to Taltola gate. Within its lofty interior, different phased out air craft and equipment have been kept including the aircraft those took part in our glorious Liberation War.

The Gallery:There are four different galleries. These are: Air Force Gallery to illustrate some memorable and historical photos. Liberation War Gallery: bring back to us the history of the liberation war. There is a gallery for showing medals and uniforms from different year. The last one is the peacekeepers corner to demonstrate the value of Bangladeshi Soldiers in the International Arena. Apart from these there is a souvenir corner too where you can buy posters, mug, t-shirts with the monogram of the National Air Force.

The previous history of BAF Museum: BAF Museum was established in 17 June 1987. At that time the museum was located in No-3 hanger of BAF Base Bashar, Dhaka cantonment. It was not open for public as we knew, just like the prison museum situated inside the Dhaka Central Jail. Once in a year on 16th December, there was a Military March held along with a three days long Army Weaponry Show. But now it is open for the public visitor. People are already started enjoying the place.

Here is the link of the official website of BAF Museum: http://www.bafmuseum.mil.bd/