Rana palaces of Nepal

The Rana palaces of Nepal were built by the Rana dynasty rulers of Nepal as both private and government buildings. The Rana rule lasted for 104 years, and during that time a number of grand royal residences were built, especially by the Prime Minister, his immediate family, and other high-ranking dignitaries.

Singha Durbar

The grand palaces of Rana were called white elephants and stood at the center of vast expanses of landscaped grounds, which Rana rulers used to show their supremacy over the common people, and to please their British friends and fellow Ranas.[1] After the overthrow of the Rana Dynasty, some palaces were converted into government buildings. Others were demolished by their owners and rebuilt into libraries, museums, hotels, and heritage complexes.[2] Most palaces still in private ownership have been destroyed or lie in ruins. Most government-owned palaces have been maintained and restored.

Old Narayanhiti Palace ca.1920, demolished in 1958.
Bird's Eye view of Kathmandu North of Dharara with white Rana palaces-1950s
Seto Durbar gate in the left and Narayanhiti palace in the middle of the picture

Basic Information

Most of the Rana palaces are white plastered, have been built in Neoclassical or Baroque European architectural style, and are made up of four wings with arresting French windows, Grecian columns, and a large courtyard in the middle for religious and ceremonial purposes. The internal beams and columns of these palace are made of Salla Pinus roxburghii wood.[3] Traditional mortar and white plaster, along with bricks, were used in construction. Black lentil paste, molasses, brick dust, mustard meal, and limestone powder were used in the cementing and plastering mixture. Lime-plaster (Bajra), a mixture of molasses, black pulse, jute, brick dust and lime, was the main ingredient for plaster as it had been for centuries in Nepal, primarily as it had good resistance against humidity. The floors were constructed using battens, rectangular in shape, above which planks were laid. These in turn supported the final floor, on which square-shaped slates were laid.[3] Foreign-trained Newar architects designed most of the palaces.[2]

Palaces
Rani Mahal (Ranighat Palace) in Palpa
Rani Mahal, Palpa
Lazimpat Durbar
PalaceCommissioned ByDate of ConstructionEngineer
Thapathali DurbarJung Bahadur RanaLate 1700s-1860sInitial Unknown, Later by Ranasur Bista
Singha MahalJung Bahadur Rana1855 CERanasur Bista
Charburja DurbarJung Bahadur Rana1855 CERanasur Bista
Gol BaithakJung Bahadur Rana1852Ranasur Bista
Narayanhity DurbarBir Shumsher JBRJogbir Sthapit
Lal DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1890Jogbir Sthapit
Seto DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1893Jogbir Sthapit
Bhatbhateni DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1893Jogbir Sthapit
Jaulakhel DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1897Jogbir Sthapit
Pani pokahari DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1885Jogbir Sthapit
Phohora DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1896/97Jogbir Sthapit
Hatti Shar DurbarBir Shumsher JBRJogbir Sthapit
Lazimpat DurbarKaji Bir Keshar Pande[2] and later re commissioned by Bir Shumsher JBR1894Jogbir Sthapit
Tangal DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1889Jogbir Sthapit
Muduli DurbarBir Shumsher JBR1893/92Unknown
Bhanjaraja DurbarProbably Bir Shumsher JBRUnknownUnknown
Singha DurbarChandra Shumsher JBR1908Kumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Kaiser MahalChandra Shumsher JBRKumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Shree DurbarChandra Shumsher JBR1927Kumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Sithal NiwasChandra Shumsher JBR1923Kumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Lakshmi NiwasChandra Shumsher JBR1905Kumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Harihar BhawanChandra Shumsher JBRKumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Babar MahalChandra Shumsher JBRKumar Narsingh Rana, Kishor Narsingh Rana
Man BhawanJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Kalimati DurbarJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Narayan BhawanJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Surendra BhawanJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Kalimati DurbarJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Narayan BhawanJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Shashi BhawanJuddha Shumsher JBRUnknown
Hiti DurbarKaji Dhokal Singh BasnyatUnknown
Bahadur BhawanRudra Shumsher JBRUnknown
Manohara DurbarJagat Jung Rana1879Unknown
Ranighat PalaceKhadga Shumsher JBR1893Unknown
Tansen DurbarPratap Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana1927Unknown
Minbhawan PalaceMin ShumsherUnknownUnknown
Rabi Bhawan PalaceRabi ShumsherUnknownUnknown
Bagh DurbarAmar Singh Thapa (Sanu)[note 1](Father of Bhimsingh Thapa)Unknown

Earthquake of 2015

The earthquake of 2015 resulted in the destruction of many remaining palaces, particularly those built of mud-mortar brick and lime plaster.

gollark: I would probably need to come up with a suitably vaguely ridiculous name, such as "libpotato".
gollark: Just use a minifier™.
gollark: There are probably a bunch of other utilities which would be neat which I repeat a lot, I think often stuff for fiddling with table formats.
gollark: Including stuff like "read all of handle and then close it" (plus convenience stuff for fs.open/http.get), probably some of potatOS's random vaguely general-purpose stuff like compression, "safe" (de)serialization, map/reduce/filter/other stuff, randomly pick item from list, generate random bytestring, etc.
gollark: But also with other things.

See also

References
  1. Not to be confused with the better known commander of Gorkhali forces in the Gurkha War with the same name. The two Amar Singhs are differentiated by the qualifier Bada (greater) and Sanu (lesser).
  1. .thetaranights.com. 29 May 2014. Retrieved on 2015-07-27.
  2. JBR, PurushottamShamsher (2007). Ranakalin Pramukh Atihasik Darbarharu [Chief Historical Palaces of the Rana Era] (in Nepali). Vidarthi Pustak Bhandar. ISBN 978-9994611027.
  3. http://www.thetaranights.com/baghdurbar-the-tiger-palace/
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