Central Railway Building

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Central Railway Building

The Central Railway Building ( CRB , Bengali : সেন্ট্রাল রেলওয়ে বিল্ডিং) is located in the hilly area of Chittagong in Bangladesh, which is well worth seeing for tourists . It houses the main administration of the Bangladesh Railway with its general manager.

location

Staircase tower

The Central Railway Building is to the west of the Railway Hospital on the opposite side of CRB Road, which was built in 1994 and is to be expanded to 250 beds and to include a medical college with 50 beds. There are residential buildings for railway employees in the area.

history

First steam locomotive in Bangladesh in the garden of the CRB

During the British colonial period from 1760 to 1947, the British built several administrative buildings. The Central Railway Building was built in 1872 as the administration building of the Assam Bengal Railway on 8 hectares of land. It is one of the oldest buildings in the port city.

Originally the building had two floors with 34 rooms on the ground floor and 33 on the upper floor. In 1918, the south wing was added another storey. The east and north wings were even extended to four floors. Part of the building was damaged by an aerial bomb attack during the Bangladesh War in 1971 , but has since been restored to its original style.

Car access

There is a two-story car entrance in the middle of the south wing of the historic building with two well-designed round arches . In the entrance area there is a foyer with a hemispherical vault. Next to it, on the south-west corner of the building, there is a staircase tower with a spiral staircase and a small dome in the style of Mughal architecture . Visitors often feel like they are in a labyrinth in the historic building . Hundreds of rooms seem to be accessible via the large corridor.

The condition of the building worth preserving is currently unsatisfactory. During the rainy season, rainwater often seeps through leaks in the roof. Although the Antiquities Act of 1968, which was revised in 1976, allows all buildings more than 100 years old to be listed because of their historical significance, this building is not yet a listed building. It is planned, however, to evaluate all historical buildings with regard to their worthy of protection. If the building were not placed under monument protection in order to keep it in its original state, it could either be demolished over time or, like many other historical buildings in the city, improperly modernized and expanded.

Cultural meaning

Boli Khela, 2013

Every year in the CRB area, the Pohela Boishakh Celebration (Bengali: পহেলা CR) is celebrated at the beginning of the Bengali New Year. A traditional wrestling match called Boli Khela (Bengali: বলীখেলা) is organized by young people . It is the main attraction of the New Year celebrations of all ages.

Web links

Commons : Central Railway Building  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tushar Hayat Chaudhury: Chest Disease Hospital in Ctg in bad shape . In: The New Age , April 10, 2005. Archived from the original on April 3, 2018. 
  2. ^ Commencement of Project Development Activities for Establishing Bangladesh Railways Medical College in Chittagong .
  3. ↑ Areas and buildings requiring preservation and conservation . Archived from the original on August 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ Minhaj Uddin: The Symbol of Chittagong's Colonial History . In: The Daily Star , November 20, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015. 
  5. ↑ Abdullah-al Mahmud: Archaeological heritage in tatters. In: The Daily Star. November 30, 2005. Retrieved October 14, 2017.

Coordinates: 22 ° 20 ′ 31.1 ″  N , 91 ° 49 ′ 17.7 ″  E