After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 in the face of the student movement, around one and a half thousand sculptures, relief sculptures, murals and monuments were vandalized, set on fire and uprooted across the country including the capital. Most of these sculptures and murals were of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, centered on the freedom struggle and liberation war. Shashilej's Venus statue in Mymensingh, Supreme Court's Themis and Shishu Academy's Durant sculpture were also destroyed.
Between August 5 and 14, 1,494 sculptures, relief sculptures, murals and monuments were vandalized, set on fire and uprooted in 59 districts. Most of the incidents of vandalism and arson took place on August 5, 6 and 7.
More than 122 sculptures, murals and relief sculptures were vandalized, set on fire and uprooted at 15 places in Dhaka metropolitan area. 7 sculptures of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's complete structure have been destroyed. A total of 1,492 sculptures, relief sculptures, murals and monuments including 273 in Dhaka Division, 204 in Chittagong Division, 166 in Rajshahi, 479 in Khulna, 100 in Barisal, 129 in Rangpur, 49 in Sylhet and 92 in Mymensingh Division were destroyed, uprooted and burnt.
Two murals of Bangabandhu were damaged during the attack-vandalism at house number 32 in Dhanmondi. Five damaged and destroyed sculptures were visited in the capital, some were completely destroyed with hammer and shovel, some were uprooted, some sculptures were burnt in fire.
Freedom fighter, artist Shamim Shikder's 'Swadhinota Sangram' sculpture is located at Palashi intersection of the capital. There are hundreds of individual sculptures, big and small. Only five of them are intact.
Bust sculptures of poets, writers, revolutionaries, politicians, scientists are looting on the ground. These include Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar to Yasir Arafat, Jagdishchandra Bose to Lalan.
The 'Durant' burning of the Shishu Academy premises was reported on August 8. Durantara Angar's body lies in the rubble. The striking sculpture of a boy running on a wheel with a stick was installed in 2008. Sheikh Russell's mural was also burnt to ashes.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 'Mrityunjoy' sculpture was installed at Vijay Sarani recently. The 'Mrityunjai Prangan' was inaugurated on November 10 last year. On the afternoon of August 5, an attempt was made to demolish the sculpture of the gigantic figure at Vijay Sarani. Mrityunjaya was destroyed by ropes, fire, and swords at one stage.
The sculpture of Themis installed in front of the extended building of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court was uprooted in two phases.
Meherpur's 'Mujibnagar Memorial Complex' is considered a single sculpture, but there were more than five hundred separate sculptures. At least 303 large and small sculptures of the complex were vandalized. First of all, the huge sculpture of Bangabandhu was broken. Around five o'clock in the afternoon on August 5, hundreds of youths entered the memorial complex with rods, bamboos and hammers. First they smashed the head of Bangabandhu's sculpture. At the same time, the 'Guard of Honor of April 17' sculpture was randomly hit.
Venus sculpture in Mymensingh's Shashila has been broken, head stolen. The curator of Shasilj museum said, "Hundreds of people attacked and vandalized. The head of the sculpture was not found. It was a priceless asset. "
The bust of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin in front of the Zainul Museum in the city was also damaged. However, local artists later renovated it.
Two sculptures of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman were completely demolished in Khulna. A Liberation War memorial under construction in the district town of Madaripur was named 'Palashi to Dhanmondi'. Everything inside this memorial, located on the banks of Shakuni lake in the heart of the city, was destroyed on the afternoon of August 7.
After August 5, sculptures were vandalized at three places in Gazipur. The relief sculpture of Sat Bir Shrestha was damaged. It was towards the interior of Joydevpur. More than 12 murals in front of Shahjalal University, MC College, Zilla Parishad, District Commissioner's office in Sylhet have been vandalized. All of them belong to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The sculpture known as 'Tarjani' has been burnt in Narsandhi. There, an index finger was made in imitation of the scene of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman holding up a finger in his March 7 speech.
Nasimul Khabir, chairman of the sculpture department of the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University, said that the list of damaged sculptures is being prepared. Emphasis is placed on selecting damaged or destroyed sculptures for restoration. Determining which process to reform requires the involvement of experts. But not all can be reformed.