Exhibition on "The Traditional Boats of bangladesh"

Introducing the Boat-culture of bangladesh:

Bangladesh is a land of rivers. The Padma, the Meghna, the Jamuna etc are the prominent rivers here. There are thousands of other small and midium rivers sorrounding the country. Lives and livelihood are very much dependent on rivers and water. Thats why waterways and boats are an integral part of the country’s transport system. While sea vessels from the Bay of Bengal adopted exotic styles due to the influences of foreign traders, the wooden boats of the inland waterways developed their shapes and forms free from foreign influences into more than 50 different types. They have their own traditional names which sounds very sweet. These riverboats were built using skills and technologies that have been passed down orally by boat-builders from generation to generation.

Untill the mid 20th century one could enjoy the view of thousands of colorful boats sailing in the river. but the scenario was changed after the years of arround 1980s when two major technological invention were introduced. The first one was the advent of cheap diesel enginesand the second one was the change of boat-building material from wood to tin and welded steel sheets. Wooden boats soon became too expensive and less economically viable.
These sudden changes are inescapably bringing an end to a rich, cultural heritage and technological know-how of Bangladesh. Thousands of years old tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation is on the verge of being lost. This is changing the lives and expectations of the families involved in the art and ritual of boat building. It has now become our moral duty to preserve the millenary naval traditions, technologies and crafts of the carpenters, sail-makers, rope-makers, bamboo specialists for the roofs, blacksmiths and many others of the largest and unique fleet of the world as ‘‘The Heritage of Humanity’’.
About the exhibition:
Exhibition on ‘Traditional Boats of Bangladesh’ had been held at the Bangladesh National Museum, Nalinikanta Bhattashali Gallery from 23rd March to 19th April 2010. The exhibition is part of Friendship’s Cultural Preservation Programme, which strives to conserve the heritage of traditional boat building in Bangladesh and facilitate socioeconomic development of the boat builders and their families. The whole gallery was decorated nicely. The boats on display are handcrafted maintaining every single feature and detail of each type of boat. The exhibition also had materials traditionally transported by life-size boats. Jute, ropes, bamboos and clay pottery gave a sense of what the daily life on the boats are like. Films and descriptive panels completed the visual material. The name of the boats were like: Goyna, Dingi, Moyurponkhi, Mala etc which also reflected the local traditions of different areas of the country. There was also some brief descriptions of the process of boat-building.
Overview:
The exhibition was quite successful to rich its goal which was to create awareness of this age-old tradition, build model boats using the same craftsmen and ancient technologies used to build the full-scale vessels, and our research and development section focuses on documenting techniques of building different types of boats and explores innovations in the sector.