The Shaheed Minar ( romanised: 'Shohid Minar' ) is a national monument in Dhaka, Bangladesh, established to commemorate those killed during the Bengali language movement demonstrations of 1952 in then East Pakistan.
On 21 and 22 February 1952, students from Dhaka University and Dhaka Medical College and political activists were killed when the Pakistani police force opened fire on Bengali protesters who were demanding official status for their native language, Bengali. The massacre occurred near Dhaka Medical College and Ramna Park in Dhaka. A makeshift monument was erected on 23 February and it became possible to construct the new monument. A foundation stone was laid in 1956, and a government committee chaired by University of Dhaka Vice-Chancellor Dr Mahmud Husain and including the principal of the Fine College of Arts, Zainul Abedin, was constituted to plan, design, and approve the monument's construction. The committee approved the design of sculptor Hamidur Rahman, followed by the construction of Shaheed Minar, starting in 1957. Hamidur Rahman's model was a huge complex on a large area of land in the yard of Dhaka Medical College Hostel. The enormous design included a half-circular column to symbolise the mother with her fallen sons standing on the monument's central dais. Yellow and deep blue pieces of stained glass, symbolising eyes reflecting the sun, were also to be placed in the columns. The marble floor was designed to reflect the moving shadows of the columns. The basement of the Minar also included a fresco depicting the history of the language movement. A railing decorated with Bengali alphabet was to be constructed in front. Two footmarks coloured red and black, indicating the two opposite forces, were also in the design. Besides this a museum and a library were also included in Hamidur Rahman's design. A fountain shaped like an eye was also to be constructed. Rahman specifically designed the materials of the monument to withstand the area's tropical climate.
thumb|[[Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani|Maulana Abdul Hamid khan Bhasani and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman marching barefoot to pay tribute at Shaheed Minar, 21 February 1954]]
thumb|right|Maulana Bhashani after laying the foundation stone for Shaheed Minar, 21 February 1956
Construction started in November 1957, under the supervision of Hamidur Rahman and Novera Ahmed.
The Pakistani Army crushed the Minar and placed over the rubble a signboard reading "Mosque".
1972–present
thumb|Planning & design of new Shaheed Minar (martyrs' monument), artist Hamidur Rahman and architect Zafar, in place of the old one destroyed by Pakistan force.
thumb|Shaheed Minar in 2026
In 1972, a committee headed by the then president Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was formed and renovation work began. The original sketch was ignored, while the Construction and Building Directorate followed the 1963 design.
Architecture and significance
The enormous design includes a half-circular arrangement of columns to symbolise the mother, with her fallen sons, standing on the monument's central dais, and the red sun shining behind. The Central Shaheed Minar of Dhaka goes up to a height of and was made with marble stones. The stairs and barrier are highlighted in white, to create a divine look. The fence on both sides is painted with lines from poems of legendary poets in iron letters. As the visitors enter the monument they will find two statues of the patriots who sacrificed their lives in that heinous police firing of 1952. The marble floor was designed to reveal the moving shadows of the columns. The basement of the Shaheed Minar also included a 1,500-square-foot (140 m<sup>2</sup>) mural representing the history of the Language Movement.
Hurried repair of the Shaheed Minar resulted in the Minar to be reconstructed incorrectly. The height of the column was shorter and the head bent more than originally planned, and the proportions of different parts of the monument were not properly maintained.
The Language Movement was one of the formidable movements which has come up in the country of Bangladesh, thus the Central Shaheed Minar epitomises efforts to represent the spirit of nationalism and also highlight the importance of the Bengali language in the social and cultural progress of the country. As a result, the Shaheed Minar has a very significant place in the social and cultural mechanism of Bangladesh.
At present, all national, mourning, cultural and other activities held each year, regarding 21 February, have been centred on the Shaheed Minar.
Replicas and controversy
The largest replicas of Shaheed Minar in Bangladesh are located in Barisal and Madaripur. Among them, the foundation stone of the replica located in Barisal was laid by the then president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1972. The replica located at Madaripur was inaugurated in 2021.
Apart from Bangladesh and India, there are at least 100 replicas of Shahid Minar in the world. The replica of Shaheed Minar was first built abroad in 1997 in Oldham, Britain. Replicas were later built in Altab Ali Park in Whitechapel, London and in Luton. There are 4 replicas of Shaheed Minar in West Bengal of which two are located in the city of Kolkata, one was erected in 2005 in Tokyo and another is located in Ashfield Park in Sydney. A replica was opened in Toronto, Canada on 27 November 2021. Another replica was inaugurated in 2023 in Perris, California. A Shaheed Minar (costing 70 thousand euros to build) was inaugurated in Paris on 8 October 2023 (the second one in France, the first was built in Toulouse).
Although there are replicas of Shaheed Minar in different parts of Bangladesh, some of them have a different structure than the original structure, so there has been a lot of controversy about them. In 2014, a Shaheed Minar was constructed at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology. It was criticized for being different from the original design of the Central Shaheed Minar. For the same reason, the Shaheed Minars of various districts including Jagannath University have given rise to criticism. As a result of all this, on 14 June 2022, the High Court issued a rule for the formulation of policies for the construction of Shaheed Minar.
Gallery
<gallery>
File:Making a Shaheed Minar at old campus of Dhaka College 1.png|Building a Shaheed Minar at Dhaka College, 1953
File:Shaheed Minar at Karjon Hall 21 Feb 1953.png|A Shaheed Minar outside Curzon Hall, 1953
File:Shaheed Minar at Kola Bhavan 21 Feb 1953.png|A Shaheed Minar outside the Fine Arts building, University of Dhaka, 1953
File:Shaheed minar Roehl.jpg|Shaheed Minar of Dhaka, as rebuilt in 1972
</gallery>
See also
- List of national monuments of Bangladesh