Shaheed Minar, Memorial at University of Dhaka, Bangladesh
The Shaheed Minar is a memorial tower at the University of Dhaka campus in Bangladesh and rises in a series of pale concrete columns, with the tallest in the center reaching 14 meters (about 46 feet). The columns stand on a flat platform of polished stone surrounded by a low balustrade, giving the tower a clean, upward-reaching form.
The first version of the structure was built immediately after the 1952 protests but was torn down by authorities. A permanent structure based on designs by Hamidur Rahman was erected in the late 1950s and has been damaged and rebuilt several times over the following decades due to political unrest.
The tower has become one of the nation's most important monuments and is visited by students and visitors year-round, not only on the commemoration day. People gather around it for political speeches, artistic readings and quiet moments of remembrance, making the site a living expression of collective identity beyond the pure monument.
Access is through the main university gate and the site itself is open at all times, allowing visitors to walk freely around the columns. The area is usually quiet during weekdays and becomes busier on weekends or during the February commemorations, when larger crowds should be expected.
The original construction was built in a single night by students and citizens using simple materials and stood for only a few days before being destroyed. Hamidur Rahman designed the present form without formal training as an architect and worked mainly out of personal commitment to the language movement.
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