Chota Imambara - Lucknow

 

The most beautiful and attractive building in the old city Lucknow is Chota Imambara. It is also called as Imambara of Hussainabad. In 1839, Mohammed Ali Shah in his second rule he built this Imambara. Many people in the city believe this building was built as a token of allegiance to his faith. When the king was in his 63 years old and unwell he was chosen by the British and crowned as the King of Oudh (third king). Azim-ullah Khan was been appointed as a superintendant of the building department for the King and he supervised the Hussainanabad Imambara building. The building is known as the Palace of Lights since during the special festivals like Muharram its decorations look good.  In the pillars of the main Tripolia gateway his contributions are been recorded in two Persian inscriptions.

It is located near the Bara Imambara on the connecting road stands well known as   Rumi Darwaza. We can also see several chandeliers used to decorate the interior of this building. These chandeliers are been brought from Belgium. There are also large and smaller gold-plated domes which can be seen by all people from far away. There are tombs for Mohammed Ali Shah and for his family members – his daughter and for her husband inside Imambara. The tombs seem to be a replica of Taj Mahal. We can see two triple arched gateways called as Tripolia gateways in the east and west as entrance.




We can see the walls decorated with Arabic calligraphy. Outside of the Imambara building there is a watchtower named as Satkhanda or tower of seven stories though it has only four stories. We can see the Gomti River near Imambara whereas the water from the Gomti River is supplied for the fountains inside the Imambara.

As a future reader the King, Mohammed Ali Shah and his Queen Malka deposited an amount of Rupees Twenty six lakh with the East India Company. They formed a Trust to maintain their religious buildings to observance of Muharrum and other religious functions. This attracts people from far off the towns and the rural areas.


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King Kothi Palace - Hyderabad

 

Hyderabad is a land of kings and royalty​,​ ​filled with many palaces, lakes ​and ​resorts. The first famous palace is King Kothi Palace. ​You will realize at first sight the exquisite architecture ​of palace ​with lavish rooms which includes ​beautiful sculptures, paintings and portraits. It includes antique books, rare manuscripts which reflects the glorious past of Hyderabad.

Very frequently referred to as the ​‘Pride of the Deccan’ – ​Hyderabad is one of the most spectacular cities in India. One young prince, ​Muhammad Quli ​was madly in ​love with a maiden from Chichlam vil – Bhagmati. ​He built a Charminar there and he renamed the village Bhagnagar​. This city later​​ turned ​out ​to be called by the name ​of ​Hyderabad.




The royal King Kothi Palace is ​an excellent piece of example of inspiration ​and influence of European Architecture. It was built by Kamal Khan and named it with the sign of “K K”. Later,​it was sold to Nizam when he expressed his desire for the palace. Nizam felt it to be a pride to have those abbreviations, so he passed a ferman and changed “ K K” to King Kothi which means Kings Mansion. Thus the name King Kothi was brought into existence.​

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