Murapara Rajbari, Palace complex in Narayanganj District, Bangladesh.
Murapara Rajbari is a two-story palace building in Narayanganj District, Bangladesh, with a rectangular layout. The western facade features semicircular arches and cast iron details that define the overall appearance of the structure.
Ramratan Banerjee, treasurer of the Natore estate, founded the Murapara zamindari and built the house; sources differ on whether he raised the palace in 1889 or only its basement. His descendant Protap Chandra Banerjee left the old family house and built a new palace behind it in 1889. His son Bijoy Chandra added a front building and dug two ponds in 1899, and Jagadish Chandra and Ashutosh Chandra completed the upper storey in 1909. After Partition in 1947 Jagadish Chandra moved to Calcutta and the house stood abandoned; Pakistan's government took it over in 1948, and Bangladesh's Department of Archaeology listed it in 1986.
Locals also call the estate Matherghat Jomidarbari. The family's rule ended in 1947 when Jagadish Chandra Banerjee moved to Calcutta; from 1948 Pakistan's government used the house as a hospital and a correction centre for girls, and since 1986 it has housed the government Murapara College.
The building sits along the Dhaka-Sylhet trunk road and can be reached by a brick-paved road from Rupganj. Since the property is off the main route, asking locals for directions will save time.
The verandahs on both floors are oriented to shield the interior rooms from direct afternoon sun, a practical response to the tropical heat of the region. This same arrangement also allows air to move through the building naturally, keeping rooms cooler without any mechanical system.
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