Culture & craft

Dhaka rickshaw painting

The vivid folk art of Dhaka's cycle rickshaws, inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2023.

Rickshaw painting covers the backs, hoods and frames of Dhaka's cycle rickshaws with bright enamel scenes of film stars, animals, village life and imagined cities. Painted by workshop artists using bold outlines and floral borders, the tradition turned the rickshaw into a moving gallery of popular art. In December 2023 UNESCO inscribed the rickshaw and rickshaw painting of Dhaka on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.