'The Martyr Tower') is a national monument in Dhaka, Bangladesh, established to commemorate those killed during the Bengali Language Movement demonstrations of 1952 in then East Pakistan.

To commemorate the dead, the Shaheed Minar was designed and built by Bangladeshi sculptors Hamidur Rahman in collaboration with Novera Ahmed.

According to Dr. Sayeed Haider the main planner and the designer of the first Shaheed Minar, the decision to build it was first made by the students of Dhaka Medical College.

This minar was inaugurated by the then Professor of Dhaka University and the pioneer and most prominent cultural and literary personality Natyaguru Nurul Momen.

Work on a larger monument designed by the architect Hamidur Rahman began in 1957 with the support of the United Front government.

[citation needed] Following the formation of the provincial government by the United Front in April 1954, the anniversary of 21 February was declared a holiday[4] and it became possible to construct the new monument.

A foundation stone was laid in 1956, and a government committee chaired by University of Dhaka Vice-Chancellor Dr Mahmud Husain and including the principal of the Fine College of Arts, Zainul Abedin, was constituted to plan, design, and approve the monument's construction.

Hamidur Rahman's model was a huge complex on a large area of land in the yard of Dhaka Medical College Hostel.

The enormous design included a half-circular column to symbolise the mother with her fallen sons standing on the monument's central dais.

Yellow and deep blue pieces of stained glass, symbolising eyes reflecting the sun, were also to be placed in the columns.

[3] Most of the work, including the basement, platform, some of the columns with the rails, footprints and some of the murals were also finished when martial law was declared in the area, and the construction was forced to a halt.

[citation needed] In 1972, a committee headed by the then president Abu Sayeed Chowdhury was formed and renovation work began.

In the mid-eighties, the monument underwent further renovation under the supervision of the then Department of Architecture chief architect SHM Abul Bashar, which extended the area of the Shaheed Minar premises, giving it a square shape from a triangular one.

Quarters concerned[clarification needed] demanded proper implementation of the design by Hamidur Rahman with the help of sculptor Novera Ahmed and Danish architect Gean Deleuran.

[citation needed] In August 2010, the High Court issued eight directives for the maintenance and renovation of the Shaheed Minar and asked the Public Works Department to establish a museum and a library on its premises.

[7] The enormous design includes a half-circular arrangement of columns to symbolise the mother, with her fallen sons, standing on the monument's central dais, and the red sun shining behind.

As the visitors enter the monument they will find two statues of the patriots who sacrificed their lives in that heinous police firing of 1952.

The height of the column was shorter and the head bent more than originally planned, and the proportions of different parts of the monument were not properly maintained.

[citation needed] At present, all national, mourning, cultural and other activities held each year, regarding 21 February, have been centred on the Shaheed Minar.