Abandoned Splendor

Wealthy Hindu cloth merchants built several dozen stately mansions in

this village an hour east of Dhaka, in the 19c. As religious tensions rose

among Hindus and Muslims, the owners were forced to abandon them

and move to safer regions. For awhile they sent money to their servants

to keep the homes in good repair. Eventually, they realized they would

never return and the buildings fell into disrepair. The government has

boarded them up to keep out squatters but nothing is being done to

return them to their former splendor.