Tajhat Palace, Tajhat Rajbari, is a historic palace of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, located in Tajhat, Rangpur. This palace now holds the Rangpur

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

. Tajhat Palace is situated six km. south-east of the city of Rangpur, on the outskirts of town.

Structure

The palace, with about 76 metres frontage, rises two storeys and faces east. An imposing broad staircase in the centre, paved with imported white marble, leads directly above the

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

to the upper storey. The palace is crowned by a ribbed conical

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

in the centre of the roof with a tall octagonal neck, partly supported on a series of slender semi-

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

columns. The balustrade on either side of the imposing staircase was originally embellished with various

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s of classical

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

figures in Italian

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, but now these are missing. There are two semi-octagonal projections at each end of the front face and a central projecting porch. The balcony roof above the porch is carried on four graceful Corinthian columns with round shafts, while two similar columns on each of the projecting ends of the building support a triangular gable. The palace is laid out in the form on a "U", with its open end to the west. Beyond the entrance at ground-floor level there is a very large

hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

, measuring more than 18 x 13 meters. A 3 meter wide corridor runs the entire length of the inner block. Two broad wooden staircases provide access to the upper floor. There are about 22 apartments on two floors.

History

The palace was built by

Maharaja Kumar Gopal Lal Roy Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...

in the beginning of the 20th century. It is believed that from the conspicuous appearance of his ''Taj'' or jeweled

crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

, his estate derived the name of Tajhat. From 1984 to 1991 the palace was used as a Rangpur High Court Branch of the

Supreme Court of Bangladesh The Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সুপ্রীম কোর্ট) is the highest court of law in Bangladesh. It is composed of the High Court Division and the Appellate Division, and was created by Part VI C ...

. In 1995 the palace was declared as a protected

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

by the Department of

Archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

. Recognizing its outstanding architectural value the

Government of Bangladesh The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...

shifted the Rangpur Museum to the second floor of the palace in 2005. The main room at the top of the marble stairs have a number of display cases which show 10th–11th century terracotta artifacts. There are a number of fine examples of Sanskrit and Arabic manuscripts, including copies of the Mahabharat, Ramayan, and a Quran whose provenance is attributed to none other than the Mughal Aurangzeb. The back rooms have several examples of black stone Hindu carvings in its back rooms, mainly of the deity Vishnu. Photography is not permitted in the museum itself.

''Gallery''

File:Tajhat Rajbari.JPG, Entrance view File:Close Front of Tajhat Palace, Rangpur, 03-09-2016 03.jpg, Close Front of Tajhat Palace File:Backyard of Tajhat Palace 03.jpg, Backyard court File:Tajhat jomider bari Rangpur 01.JPG, Another view File:TajhatCoatofArms.jpg, The Coat of Arms of Maharaja Gopal Lal Roy as depicted on a ground floor French Door window panel File:Tajhat Palace - Front Gombuj.jpg, Top of palace File:Brief history of Tajhat palace written in both English and Bengali 02.jpg, Brief history of Tajhat palace File:Shamrathasan1.jpg, Another view File:200 years ancient round stairs of Tajhat Landlord Palace Rangpur, Bangladesh.jpg, ancient round stairs of Tajhat Palace File:200 years ancient wooden door of Tajhat Landlord's Palace.jpg, 200 years ancient wooden door. File:200 years ancient wooden stairs of Tajhat Landlord's Palace.jpg, wooden stairs of Tajhat Palace File:A side of Tajhat Landlord's Palace in Rangpur, Bangladesh.jpg, A side of Palace File:Ancient high ceiling of Tajhat Landlord's Palace in Rangpur , Bangladesh.jpg, High ceiling File:Front view of Tajhat Landlord's Palace in Rangpur, Bangladesh.jpg, Front view File:Interior of ancient Tajhat Landlord's Palace, Rangpur, Bangladesh.jpg, Interior File:List of family members of ancient Tajhat Landlord Family in Rangpur, Bangladesh.jpg, List of family members File:Tajhat Palace 101.JPG, Corridor in the ground floor, facing to the back yard.

References

External links

* {{Bengal Zamindars Museums in Bangladesh Palaces in Bangladesh Rangpur District Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture