After the renovation at a cost of Tk 13 crore, visitors will be able to see the building at night as floodlights will be installed under the renovation project.

The palace originally belonged to Nawab family of Dhaka was abandoned for near about 100 years before the government decided to turn it into a museum in 1985 keeping its original texture.

"In order to protect the beauty of the palace we have taken up this renovation programme," said Dr Mohammad Alamgir, deputy keeper of Ahsan Manzil.

"During this renovation programme we'll also try to complete some unfinished works which could not be done in 1992," he added.

The PWD (Public Works Department) is in charge of the renovation which is expected to end by next month.

"As 90 percent of the renovation work is completed, we are planning to end the work by the first week of October," said Md Jasimuddin, executive engineer of PWD.

"Our renovation includes replacing of wood beams of the palace by iron beams as wood beams were seriously affected by woodworm. Besides, we repaired the damaged roof of the ground floor and the old railing of the stairs," he added.

According to Bangladesh National Museum source, Ahsan Manzil was built in mid 18th century by Zamindar Sheikh Enayetullah as a palace for recreation. Later his son sold the building to French businessmen who made it their business centre.

In 1835, Khwaza Alimullah, father of Nawab Abdul Gani bought the building and began to live there after some renovation, which affected the original structure of the building.

Later in 1872 Nawab Abdul Gani again renovated the palace and named the palace "Ahsan Manzil" after the name of his son. The cyclone on April 7, 1887 damaged the palace seriously. Then it was renovated again and a tomb was built atop the palace.

In 1985, the government took initiative to turn the palace into a museum.

After another round of renovation in 1992, it was brought under the control of Bangladesh National Museum which set up a branch of the museum at the palace. Since 1992 the Ahsan Manzil, situated on the bank of the river Buriganga, has attracted thousands of local and foreign tourists.

However, the authorities constantly came under criticism for keeping the museum closed full day on Thursdays and half day on Fridays.

Ahsan Manzil museum officials said that they had to keep the tourist spot closed on weekends due to shortage of manpower.

"We are keeping the museum open half-day on Fridays for the sake of visitors by paying overtime to the staff," said one of the officials of Ahsan Manzil.

Between April and September the palace remains open for the visitors from Saturday to Wednesday, between 10:30am to 5:30pm. Between October and March the palace remains open for the visitors from Saturday to Wednesday, between 9:30am to 4:30pm.

On Thursdays it remains closed and on Friday it remains open from 3:30pm to 7:30pm between April and September while between October and March the palace remains open from 3:00pm to 7:00pm on Friday.

The entry fee will be increased from Tk 2 to Tk 5 for each visitor after the renovation, deputy keeper of the museum said.