Sheikh Hasina’s Ganabhaban Palace to Be Transformed into Museum of the Bangladesh Uprising
As Bangladesh marks one year since the protests that led to Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, the former prime minister remains in the spotlight over allegations of widespread human rights violations.
Bangladesh announced plans to turn Ganabhaban Palace, the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina's official residence, into a public museum in a symbolic gesture one year after her abrupt removal.
The decision comes under the leadership of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus, now heading the country's interim caretaker government. The 85-year-old stated the museum would serve to “preserve memories of her misrule and the people's anger when they removed her from power,” according to an AFP report.
Ganabhaban, once the nerve center of Hasina’s administration, became the focal point of last year’s nationwide student uprising in July 2024. Now, it’s being reimagined as a space for reflection, protest, and remembrance.
Rights activist and documentary photographer Mosfiqur Rahman Johan, 27, said the palace-turned-museum would “visualise and symbolise the past trauma, the past suffering — and also the resistance.” He described Ganabhaban as “a symbol of fascism, the symbol of an autocratic regime.”
According to the UN, the 2024 movement saw around 1,400 people killed between July and August. The new museum will memorialize the lives lost and the brutal crackdown on protesters.
Images and videos of students and protesters storming Ganabhaban last year became iconic moments in Bangladesh’s political history. Viral footage showed jubilant crowds waving flags from the rooftop as Hasina reportedly fled to India. Within minutes of her departure from Dhaka, angry mobs ransacked the residence, looting everything from sarees and designer handbags to TVs, sofas, and even fish from the kitchen.
Sheikh Hasina continues to be a contentious figure as the nation considers the anniversary of the uprising. During her 15 years in power, the 77-year-old has been charged with serious human rights abuses, such as extrajudicial executions, mass detentions, and crimes against humanity. She continues to refute all of the accusations, which have been supported by the UN and a number of human rights organisations, in spite of growing international condemnation and court orders.
Ganabhaban's transformation into a museum represents not only a shift in political narrative but also a collective effort to reckon with a painful chapter in Bangladesh’s modern history.