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Department of Archaeology

department · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Sabina Alam
Role
Director General
Annual budget
—
Staff
—
Established
1947
Legal basis
Antiquities Act, 1968 (Act No. XVI of 1968), which repealed the Ancient Monuments Preservation Act, 1904 and the Antiquities (Export Control) Act, 1947; amended by the Antiquities (Amendment) Ordinance, 1976. Department constituted under the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Predecessor: Archaeological Survey of India (under British rule from 1861); post-Partition, the Department of Archaeology and Museums was reorganised as an autonomous body in 1972; departmental reorganisation with four regional offices took effect in 1983.

The department is operationally active: it inaugurated a fifth regional office in Rangpur (November 2025) and completed the annual Mahasthangarh excavation season (January-February 2025) with the French-Bangladeshi joint mission. However, its core challenge -- inadequate enforcement capacity relative to approximately 493 protected sites -- remains acute. Several Old Dhaka heritage buildings listed as protected under the Antiquities Act have been encroached upon or demolished without effective DoA intervention (reported April 2026). The Ministry of Cultural Affairs received Tk 824 crore in the FY2025-26 budget (operational Tk 487 crore + development Tk 337 crore), but a department-level budget breakdown has not been publicly disclosed; cultural professionals continue to call for higher allocation.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

Established 1947 following Partition; first director was Q.M. Moneer, initially headquartered at Varendra Research Museum, Rajshahi before relocation to Dhaka. Reorganised as 'Department of Archaeology and Museums' in 1972 following independence; current name and structure formalised through the 1983 reorganisation that created four divisional regional offices. A fifth regional office (Rangpur) was added in November 2025. The department operates from the Administration Building, Agargaon, Dhaka (since 2013). Current Director General is Sabina Alam (rank: Additional Secretary); exact appointment date not confirmed in primary sources, head_since left null. The department manages approximately 493 protected sites as of the most recent published count, including two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Somapura Mahavihara at Paharpur, inscribed 1985; Mosque City of Bagerhat with Sixty Dome Mosque, inscribed 1985). Sonargaon and Panam Nagar are protected under DoA but are NOT UNESCO World Heritage Sites; they are on Bangladesh's UNESCO tentative list. The joint France-Bangladesh excavation at Mahasthangarh has operated continuously under a 1992 bilateral agreement; the 2025 season (January-February) found an ancient pond/tank feature. FY2025-26 cultural sector budget is Tk 824 crore for the whole Ministry of Cultural Affairs; no DoA-specific line item was found in public sources -- annual_budget_bdt left null and fy_budget_year set to indicate the fiscal year of the only available figure. Staff count not published in any primary source reviewed; left null. No Bangladesh-specific UNESCO World Heritage nomination was submitted in the 90-day window; Bangladesh's tentative list submission 'Archaeological Sites on the Deltaic Landscape of Bangladesh' was added in 2023. The article count of '452 sites' (cited in some sources as of 2016) has since grown; the most recent reliable figure found was approximately 493 as of 2024 per Wikipedia and Banglapedia cross-check.

Sources