5/5 Raju A. 3 years ago on Google
In
Mughal
era,
there
was
a
garden
house
of
Sheikh
Enayet
Ullah,
the
landlord
of
Jamalpur
Porgona
(district),
in
this
place.
Sheikh
Enayet
Ullah
was
a
very
charming
person.
He
acquired
a
very
big
area
in
Kumartoli
(Kumartuli)
and
included
it
in
his
garden
house.
Here
he
built
a
beautiful
palace
and
named
it
"Rongmohol"
(Rangmahal).
He
used
to
enjoy
here
keeping
beautiful
girls
collected
from
the
country
and
abroad,
dressing
them
with
gorgeous
dresses
and
expensive
ornaments.
There
is
a
saying
that,
the
founder
of
Dhaka
(representative
of
mughal
emperor)
was
attracted
to
one
of
the
beautiful
girls.
He
invited
Sheikh
Enayet
Ullah
to
a
party
one
night
and
killed
him
in
a
conspiracy
when
he
was
returning
home.
That
girl
also
committed
suicide
in
anger
and
sorrow.
There
was
a
grave
of
Sheikh
Enayet
Ullah
in
the
north-east
corner
of
the
palace
yard
which
was
ruined
in
the
beginning
of
the
20th
century.
Probably
in
the
period
of
Nawab
Alibardi
Khan(Grandfather
of
Nawab
Siraj-Ud-Daulah)
around
1740
century,
Sheikh
Moti
Ullah,
the
son
of
Sheikh
Enayet
Ullah,
sold
the
property
to
the
French
traders.
There
was
a
French
trading
house
beside
this
property.
The
trading
house
became
wealthier
after
purchasing
this
property.
In
that
time,
French
traders
could
do
business
here
without
paying
any
taxes
by
a
decree
from
the
emperor
Aurangzeb.
In
that
time,
the
French
became
very
wealthy
by
doing
business
here
in
competition
with
the
English
and
other
European
companies.
They
made
a
big
palace
and
dug
a
pond
for
sweet
water
in
the
newly
purchased
property.
The
pond
still
exists
in
the
compound
of
Ahsan
Manzil
which
was
called
"Les
Jalla"
in
that
time.
In
the
English-French
war,
French
got
defeated
and
all
their
properties
were
captured
by
the
English.
On
22
June
1757,
the
French
left
the
trading
house
with
a
fleet
of
35
boats
from
the
river
station
of
Buriganga
in
front
of
Kumartuli.
In
1785,
the
French
transferred
the
property
to
a
French
tradesman
named
Mr.
Champigni,
and
retaken
it
at
1801.
According
to
Paris
agreement
of
1814,
the
French
claimed
all
their
left
properties
at
Dhaka,
and
in
1827
the
property
was
again
returned
to
the
French.
For
the
increasing
power
of
the
English,
the
French
was
forced
to
leave
subcontinent.
They
decided
to
sell
all
their
properties
in
Dhaka.
So
in
1830,
the
trading
house
of
Kumartuli
was
purchased
by
the
established
landlord
of
Dhaka,
Khwaja
Alimullah.
After
some
renovation
work,
the
trading
house
became
the
residence
of
Khwaja
Alimullah.
In
his
time,
a
stable
and
a
family
mosque
was
added
in
the
compound.
After
his
death,
his
son
Khwaja
Abdul
Ghani
made
a
great
flourish
to
the
property,
and
named
it
"Ahsan
Manzil"
after
his
son
Khwaja
Ahsanullah.
In
the
east
side
of
the
old
building,
he
made
a
new
building
with
a
different
design,
and
also
done
great
renovation
work
to
the
old
building.
Since
then,
the
old
building
was
called
"Ondor
Mohol"
and
the
new
building
was
called
"Rangmahal".
In
the
evening
of
7
April
1888,
a
devastating
tornado
hit
Dhaka
city
causing
great
damage.
Ahsan
Manzil
was
severely
damaged
and
abandoned.
An
English
engineer
from
Kolkata
arrived
here
to
examine
the
palace.
He
gave
opinion
that
except
for
the
"Rangmahal",
all
the
other
parts
of
the
palace
would
have
to
be
reconstructed.
So
Khwaja
Abdul
Ghani
and
his
son
Khwaja
Ahsanullah
turned
their
full
attention
to
rebuild
the
palace.
Both
of
the
buildings
were
reconstructed
during
that
time
with
a
new
design
and
supervised
by
the
local
engineer
Gobinda
Chandra
Roy.
The
old
French
building
was
reconstructed
to
a
two
storied
building
keeping
similarity
to
the
Rangmahal.
A
gangway
was
made
with
wood
connecting
the
first
floors
of
the
two
buildings.
The
most
beautiful
thing
made
in
this
time
was
the
dome,
which
made
the
palace
so
beautiful.
After
the
death
of
Khwaja
Ahsanullah
in
1901,
the
glory
of
Ahsan
Manzil
was
ended.
His
successors
could
not
continue
the
glory
because
of
the
internal
family
quarrel.
They
rented
different
parts
of
the
palace
to
tenants,
who
actually
made
it
a
slum.
In
1952,
govt.
acquired
the
property
and
left
in