BANGLADESH ACADEMY FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT, KOTBARI, COMILLA

Founded in 1959, and located in a 156 Acre compound, with the extraordinary architectural masterpiece of the controversial Greek American architect, Konstantinos Apostolos Doxiadis to house it,  BARD has, for over 50 years been making a significant contribution to sustainable development of rural areas, especially, of course, agriculture.

Grounds layout

Doxiadis was the architect who designed the entire new capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad, as well as a number of buildings in what was, at the time, East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, including work in University of Dhaka.

Quite apart from the abundant archaeology that surrounds it, in the form of over 50 Buddhist Vihara, and a number of Hindu Temples, as well as a fine Mughal period mosque in nearby Comilla, where the last of the Tripuran Queens had a palace bungalow, BARD itself repays time spent, wandering its wonderfully geometric corridors; and the cafe offers some pretty fine rewards for the visitor, too, with home produced vegetables and fruit very much on the menu.

Great vihara ruin in Comilla.