Pohela Boishakh Procession
পহেলা বৈশাখের শোভাযাত্রা
On Bangla New Year the Charukola art students lead a colourful parade of giant masks and figures.
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On 14 April, Bangla New Year, Dhaka wakes early for Pohela Boishakh. The Faculty of Fine Arts of Dhaka University (Charukola) leads a parade of huge papier-mache animals, masks and folk figures, a tradition inscribed by UNESCO in 2016. Elsewhere, Chhayanaut's dawn concert under the banyan tree at Ramna Park welcomes the year with songs. People wear red and white, eat panta-ilish and fill the streets around Shahbag.
Good to know
Arrive at dawn, expect road closures, and carry water.
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Place Lalbagh Fort
লালবাগ কেল্লাAn unfinished 17th-century Mughal fort with lawns, a tomb and a mosque, a calm green pocket in Old Dhaka.
Place Ahsan Manzil
আহসান মঞ্জিলThe pink riverside palace of the Dhaka Nawabs, now a museum facing the busy Buriganga.
Place Star Mosque (Tara Masjid)
তারা মসজিদA small mosque in Armanitola covered in star-patterned mosaic made from broken china.
Place Sadarghat and the Buriganga
সদরঘাট ও বুড়িগঙ্গাDhaka's chaotic river port, where multi-deck launches leave for the south and wooden boats ferry people across.
Nearby
Place Bangladesh National Museum
Dhaka · বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় জাদুঘরThe country's main museum at Shahbag, with galleries on history, art, natural history and the Liberation War.
Representative photo Place Hussaini Dalan
Dhaka · হোসেনি দালানDhaka's main Shia imambara from the Mughal era, white-walled beside a large tank, the heart of the city's Muharram.
Place Dhakeshwari National Temple
Dhaka · ঢাকেশ্বরী জাতীয় মন্দিরBangladesh's national Hindu temple, said to give Dhaka its name, busiest during Durga Puja.
Food Bakarkhani
Dhaka · বাকরখানিFlaky, crisp layered bread baked in clay ovens, Old Dhaka's breakfast with tea.