Many of the oldest graves and mausoleums are in a state of disrepair and are being overtaken by unchecked vegetation growth and lack of maintenance, while other parts of the cemetery still see new burials taking place at regular intervals.

[5] The structure was first referred to as the Columbo Sahib mausoleum by Reginald Heber, the Bishop of Calcutta[3] in an 1824 account of his visit to Dacca.

Heber had consecrated the Narinda cemetery in 1824 and recorded the presence of the large imposing tomb as "....Some of the tombs are very handsome; one more particularly, resembling the buildings raised over the graves of Mussulman saints, has a high octagon gothic tower, with a cupola in the same style, and eight windows with elaborate tracer..[3] Similarly, Francis Bradley Bradley-Birt records the Columbo Sahib structure as: A high octagonal Gothic tower with eight windows, the whole surmounted by a cupola in the same style, it stands nameless, dominating the whole cemetery and jealously keeping watch over the three graves that lie within.

The Indian version of the pyramid stands on a podium where the inscriptions are laid, has a less broad base, which is smoothly uplifted to an acute angled apex.

[2] The cemetery also contains a mass-grave, demarcated by a low stone fence surrounding a square area, containing the remains of Christians who succumbed to the Bengal famine of 1943.

[12] The Dhaka Department of Archaeology has declared the early-18th-century mausoleum of Columbo Sahib and the 1724 tomb of Reverend Joseph Paget as two of the city's 22 heritage sites.

The cemetery is maintained and managed by the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dhaka on behalf of numerous Christian denominations.