Who Built Singha Durbar in Nepal?

Who built Singha Durbar in Nepal?

Singha Durbar, Lions’ Place, is a huge and impressive building in Nepal that is built in the neo classical style in the early 19^th century. This palace is located in Kathmandu towards the north of Babar Mahal and east of Bhadrakali. This is supposed to the biggest building in Nepal to have been built a century ago. This building used to be the permanent residence of the Rana Prime Ministers until their fall. Today, it is under the control of Nepal government.

History of Singha Durbar

During the 19^th century, while the Rana ruled the country, one of the Rana prime ministers, Chandra Shumsher Janga Bahadur Rana made this huge complex right after his appointment as the Prime Minister of Nepal. Initially, it was a small residence private to Rana Family. However, Chandra Shumsher continued to make it bigger and bigger after his accession. Later he sold this property to the Nepal Government and it was made the official residence of Prime Minister of Nepal. Even after his death in 1929, many other prime ministers lived in Singha Durbar including Mohan Shumsher JBR. After the fall of the Rana Dynasty, this palace became the National Property of Nepal.

About Chandra Shumsher And Junga Bahadur Rana

Chandra Shumsher JBR was the fifth Prime Minister of Nepal who ruled in Nepal from 1905 to 1929 until his death. During his rule, he held the good control of all domestic and foreign policy in Nepal. Along with that, he abolished Sati Custom and slavery in Nepal. He made the first college, Tri Chandra College in the year 1975 BS. He made many developments in Nepal as compared to his predecessors in terms of building houses, hospitals, colleges and school. one of the landmarks he made in Nepal was The Singha Durbar Palace.

Design of the Palace

Two persons were behind making the formal design of the palace; Kishor Narsingh Rana and Kumar Narsingh Rana. This building shows the merger of various tradition like Corinthian, neoclassical along with Baroque architecture. Before the fire in the durbar in 1973, the palace had 1700 rooms along with seven courtyards, silver furniture and crystal lighting. However, the fire of 9^th June 1973 destroyed the three wings of the palace except for the front facing wing. Even today, it is one of the most important buildings in Nepal in terms of architecture and history.

Today, Singha durbar is under the Government of Nepal and is used to government offices. Its premises are occupied by all chamber of the Nepal Parliament; House of Representatives, and house of the states). Altogether, it has 20 government and ministry offices. Nepal Television and Radio Nepal’s headquarters still is in the Singha Durbar.

Quick Facts about Singha Durbar