National Martyr’s Memorial in Dhaka

National Martyr’s Memorial is the national monument of Bangladesh that is located at Savar, Dhaka. This is also known as Jatio Smriti Shoudho in Bangla. It is just 35 kilometer north-west from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was designed by the famous architect Moinul Hossain. It was inaugurated at 16th December of 1982. The monument comprises of seven pillars where the first one is the tallest but thinner, and the last one is the wider but shorter in height. Those seven pillars represent the seven historic events of Bangladesh. More about this and the place can be found in Wikipedia.

During a national occasion (like Independence day) lot of people use to gather here.

The whole premise of National Martyr’s Memorial is nicely organized. The area is noticeably big and having plenty of walking paths, lakes, and plenty of greens. One corner is having a section where the VIP visitors in Bangladesh plant the tree as a token of their visit. When I was a kid I used to visit this place very often. I liked to visit those places, I liked to read the names and country of those people from the placards. I had immense craving to know about other country and people since I was a kid.

The premie has several lakes like this one.

Anyway, lot of people use to gather at National Martyr’s Memorial during 16th December, which is the victory day of ours. We have defeated the infamous Pakistani army on that day in 1971. Every year we use to celebrate that day. And people use to gather here to put flowers to commemorate them. Apart from 16th December, people use to put flower on other national events (i.e. at independence day).

It has a nice mosque for pious visitors.

How to Go:

National Martyr’s Memorial is only one hour journey from Dhaka city. You can take your own car and drive yourself. Also you can go using any public transport. BRTC from Farmgate, or Hanif, Green City from Indira road (opposite of Tejgaon College) are available for you. Bus fare is around 30-35 Taka. You can either get down from the bus at Nabinagar Bazar or you can get down in front of the National Martyr’s Memorial.

Lot of VIP visitors like Princess Anne uses to plant a tree here during their visit.

Opening and closing time:

It’s free for everyone, no entry fee requires. This is open from morning to sun set. Staying at night time is not allowed by the authority.

View of the Smriti Shoudho from a side.
View of the Smriti Shoudho from another angle.
View of the Smriti Shoudho from behind.

View of the Smriti Shoudho from different angles.

Things to do:

The Parjatan restaurant is nearby. You can go there and have your lunch there if you are hungry. Also there use to be some shop which sells handcraft (i.e. small statue, traditional Bangladeshi cultural stuffs, etc). You can buy some from there as a souvenir. If you don’t buy you can still watch them and increase your knowledge about Bangladeshi culture.