
Dhaka Textile Heritage and Nakshi Kantha Craft Walk
Discover Bangladesh's extraordinary textile traditions — from the Muslin cloth that made Dhaka famous across the Mughal empire to the nakshi kantha embroidered quilts stitched by rural women, and the contemporary fashion industry that has made Bangladesh a global textile powerhouse.
- 1
Muslin Revival Workshop
A workshop reviving Dhaka Muslin — the legendary cloth so fine it was called 'woven air' by Mughal emperors, requiring thread spun from specially cultivated cotton grown only in specific conditions near Dhaka; near-extinct under British rule, now being painstakingly revived.
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Nakshi Kantha Exhibition
An exhibition of nakshi kantha — embroidered quilts made by rural Bangladeshi women from layers of recycled sari fabric, stitched with narrative scenes of village life, nature, and mythology in running stitch that creates dense pictorial surfaces.
- 3
Old Dhaka Fabric Market
The wholesale fabric market of Old Dhaka where merchants sell silk, cotton, jamdani, and synthetic fabrics by the bolt to tailors, garment factories, and retail sellers — a market that has operated on this site since the Mughal period.
- 4
Jamdani Weaving Workshop
A workshop producing jamdani — the UNESCO-listed supplementary weft weaving technique used to create the distinctive floral patterns woven directly into muslin cloth, a tradition unique to the Dhaka region practiced by hereditary weaver communities.
- 5
Aarong Fair Trade Flagship Store
The flagship store of Bangladesh's largest development organization's fair trade brand, showcasing the full range of Bangladeshi craft traditions — pottery, leather, jewellery, and textiles produced by rural artisans working through fair-wage cooperatives.
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New Market Textile District
The sprawling New Market area where ready-made garments, tailoring shops, and fabric stalls serve Dhaka's enormous domestic clothing market — the street-level version of the export industry that has transformed Bangladesh's economy.