Mahasthangarh
Ancient City · Bogura, Rajshahi
The oldest known city in Bangladesh: the walled citadel of Pundranagara on the Karatoya river near Bogura, urban since at least the third century BC and layered with Maurya, Gupta, Pala and later occupation. The rectangular citadel mound - kilometres of rampart rising over the plain - anchors a landscape of scattered satellite ruins: Govinda Bhita temple, Behular Bashor Ghar of the folk epics, and dozens of mounds still unexcavated. A site museum holds the terracotta and sculpture. The shrine of Shah Sultan Balkhi on the citadel edge keeps the place a living pilgrimage as well as a dead city.
Bogura-Rangpur Highway, Mahasthan, Bogura, Rajshahi, Bangladesh
The open site and ramparts are accessible daylight hours daily; the site museum runs standard Department of Archaeology hours with the assumed Sunday closure and Monday half-day (UNVERIFIED for 2026 - verify locally, especially for a fixed-date day trip). The Shah Sultan shrine keeps devotional hours independent of the archaeology.