Kazi Nazrul Islam's Mausoleum (কাজী নজরুল ইসলামের সমাধি)

The Mausoleum of Kazi Nazrul Islam marks the grave of Bangladesh's national poet beside the Central Mosque of the University of Dhaka in Shahbagh, Dhaka. Designed by Muzharul Islam and opened in 2009, it is free to visit and suits readers of Bengali literature and anyone walking the Dhaka University campus.

Why is Nazrul buried in Dhaka?

At the invitation of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Nazrul came from Kolkata to Dhaka with his family on 24 May 1972, and the government named him national poet that year, though the status was formally gazetted only in 2024. He was granted Bangladeshi citizenship on 18 February 1976 and received the Ekushey Padak the same year. He died in Dhaka on 29 August 1976, aged 77.

Buried beside the Central Mosque as he wished

In a poem later recorded as a Nazrul song in 1940, he asked to be buried beside a mosque so he could hear the call to prayer. His grave beside the university's Central Mosque follows that wish.

Muzharul Islam's design opened in 2009

Muzharul Islam designed the present mausoleum for the Government of Bangladesh. The foundation stone was laid on 25 May 1999, and it opened on 27 August 2009. A terracotta memorial in the complex carries lines from his poem Bidrohi (The Rebel). On 28 February 2011 soil from the grave of his wife, Pramila, at Churulia in India, was placed on his grave.

Zainul Abedin, Quamrul Hassan and two vice-chancellors

The complex also holds the graves of the painter Zainul Abedin, the painter Quamrul Hassan, who designed the national flag, and the former Dhaka University vice-chancellors Muzaffar Ahmed Chowdhury and Abdul Matin Chowdhury.