Sher-e-Bangla Memorial Museum of Cakhar | Barishal

Location: Sher-e-Bangla Memorial Museum is situated at Cakhar village under Banaripara upazila of Barishal district. Guacitra Bus stand is about 22 kilometers on the west side of a road going to Swarupkathi from Gariarpar Bus stand of Dhaka-Barishal highway. The village of Cakhar is situated on the road of 3 kilometers north from Guacitra. The museum, one-storied and south-facing, is on a road side adjacent to Cakhar Bazar of the village.

Map: Location of  Sher-e-Bangla Memorial Museum.

Gallery: The museum including five rooms has three exhibition galleries, one office room and one rest room. There is a toilet facility for visitors in the western part of the museum building. Besides, there is a beautiful flower garden in front of the museum.

The first exhibition gallery on the left side of the museum has one large portrait of Sher-e-Bangal, Short history of his life and his genealogy in Bengali and English, the rare photographs of his social, political and family life and his own handwritten letters.

In the middle gallery of the museum, there are chairs, table, hand stick, water drinking pot etc. used by Sher-e-Bangla, Memorial certificates given for the memory of Sher-e-Bangla during various occasion, photographs of various organizations established by Sher-e-Bangla at Cakhar during his life and mummy of a crocodile given for his memory.

Besides, the last gallery on the right of the museum has an ease chair, a wooden bed, a mattress, a rack, a dressing table and a seating tool used by Sher-e-Bangla during his life.

Entrance Fees and Ticket Counter: The ticket counter is beside the main gate of the museum. The entry fee for adults is 10 Taka, but fee for children below five years are free and fee for boys and girls of Secondary school level is 5 Taka. The entry fee for visitors of SAARC countries is 25 Taka and for other foreign visitors is 100 Taka.

Visiting Hours:
In the summer (from 1 April to 30 September), the museum is open from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. There is a break for half an hour from 1:00 pm to 1.30 pm. The museum is open from 2:30 pm to 6:00 pm on Monday. Sunday is weekend for the museum.

In the winter (from 1 October to 31 March), the museum is open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. There is a break from 1:00 pm to 1.30 pm. The museum is open from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm on Monday. Sunday is weekend for the museum. Besides, there is a break from 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm for Jumma prayers on every Friday.  Apart from this, Department of Archaeology keeps open the museum on any particular day of the government.

Historical Background: It is important to note that Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Huq was born on 26 October 1873 at his grandfather’s house in Rajapur (now under Jhalokati district) of Barishal. His father- Kazi Muhammad Wazed Ali and mother- Begum Syedunnesa. Kazi Muhammad Wazed earned a lot of money by taking law profession and owned a lot of property by purchasing zamindari and taluk in Cakhar. Sher-e-Bangla took the law as a profession like his father. He started the law practice in the Calcutta High Court. But after his father death, he came back in Barisal in 1901 CE and started the law practice as well as supervised the zamindari and taluk of Cakhar. He spent a certain period of his long life in his ancestral house in Cakhar. Besides, he also ornamented many important political posts. Among these posts, Mayor of Calcutta in 1935, the Prime Minister of the undivided Bengal in 1937 – 1943, the Prime Minister of East Pakistan in 1954, the State Minister of Pakistan in 1955 and the governor of East Pakistan 1956 – 1958. He was one of the main leaders in the formation of the United Front (Yukta front). On 27 April 1962, he left the last breath in Dhaka Medical College.

In 1983 CE, Sher-e-Bangla Memorial Museum was established to protect the memory of Sher-e-Bangla A K Fazlul Huq, the well-known leader of the Indian Sub-continent. Since its beginning, the museum has been managed by Department of Archaeology under Ministry of Culture affairs of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

Click for Bengali Version

[Author: Md. Shahin Alam]