Bir Shreshtha Matiur Rahman Memorial Museum

Bir Sreshtha Matiur Rahman hails from Narsingdi. The ‘Bir Sreshtha’, or Greatest of the Heroes of Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, is remembered in a memorial. Named after the aviator, the Bir Sreshtha Matiur Rahman Memorial Museum stores his everyday use belongings with odds and ends. Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman, as told and known, could not sit back and watch his motherland in flames. On leave, the duty-bound officer played an instrumental role to mobilize his home town’s glorious heroes to fight against the occupying junta in Bhairab. But fate’s whim and dearest ones’ wails made him to plan otherwise and return to airbase in May.

Bluebird, a T-33 aircraft, would take off to fly the skies of Karachi. Matiur was the instructor to Minhaz Rashid, a Pakistani pilot officer. They were airborne within minutes on that morning of August 20 in 1971. The patriot at heart was not to miss the opportunity. But Matiur’s maneuver to sneak into the Indian sky with the aircraft went haywire. After much troubled strife to take control of Bluebird, the plane hit the grounds of Thatta. Bir Sreshtha Matiur Rahman’s remains were found and buried in Masrur Airbase of Pakistan. Minhaz’s could not be tracked or traced. The Bir Sreshtha’s bodily remains were returned to Bangladesh and buried in 2006. For all its worth, the aviator’s valor have not been futile.

Others have followed suit to realize the dream of an independent Bangladesh. To honor the timed effort and untimely sacrifice of Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh has built and opened the museum together with a library in Raipura on 31 March of 2008. Photographs of the martyr can be viewed inside the museum premises. Though very few in number, the gesture carries tremendous significance. Worthy to note as well is that, memorial museums and libraries are also to be built to cherish and conserve the memories and sacrifices of Seven Bir Sreshthas across birthplaces of the martyred heroes in Bangladesh.

Thousands of books grace the Bir Sreshtha Matiur Rahman Memorial Museum. The road that takes to the place is a bit bumpy. Even so,Ramnagar village is very much alive with tales of its loved hero and martyr which would need libraries to shelve stories of Matiur. The village has been renamed to Matiur Nagar that fills its locals with immense pride. It is strongly advisable to be very respectful to the memories of the brave airman and to the people of his native village who love him to this day. Also wear a face-mask and carry a hand-sanitizer for personal safety and hygiene. A recollection of memories has had a berth at the Bir Sreshtha Matiur Rahman Memorial Museum.

Visitors there can relieve the moments looking at photographs of the martyr. They can cherish his heroism by learning more from locals. Since Matiur Nagar is the birthplace of the ‘Bir Sreshtha’, anyone can find out where Matiur Rahman spent his childhood and how his ironclad character and personality were steamed to perfection. It is worth a wondrous journey to know and learn deep about a man as great as a mountain.


Address: Raipura Upazila, Narsingdi, Dhaka, Bangladesh