Tajbeg Palace (; ; ''Palace of the Large Crown''), also inaccurately called the Queen's Palace, is one of the

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

s in the popular Darulaman area of

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The stately mansion is located about south-west from the city's center. It sits on top of a knoll among foothills where the Afghan royal family of the day, known as the

Barakzai dynasty The Barakzai dynasty (, "Sons of Barak"), also known as the Muhammadzai dynasty ("the ruling sub-clan of the Barakzai"), ruled what is now Afghanistan from 1823 to 1978, when the monarchy ended de jure under Musahiban Mohammad Zahir Shah and ...

, once hunted and picnicked. Originally built in the 1920s to house the then royal family, Tajbeg Palace is one of the most impressive landmarks of Darulaman, a district created during the era of

Amanullah Khan Ghazi (warrior), Ghazi Amanullah Khan (Pashto/Dari: ; 1 June 1892 – 26 April 1960) was the head of state, sovereign of Afghanistan from 1919, first as Emirate of Afghanistan, Emir and after 1926 as Kingdom of Afghanistan, King, until his abdic ...

by a team of European architects in an attempt to modernize Afghanistan. The palace served as the residence of General Secretary Hafziullah Amin. The palace was damaged during the civil war in the 1990s but was renovated in 2021.

History

Evstafiev-40th army HQ-Amin-palace-Kabul

Not far from the castle or ''Tapa-e Taj Beg'' (Taj Beg hill), a palace for the Queen of the

Timurids The Timurid Empire was a late medieval, culturally Persianate, Turco-Mongol empire that dominated Greater Iran in the early 15th century, comprising modern-day Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, much of Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and parts of contem ...

is said to have been found a long time ago. Terraced garden designs were preferred by Timurids and Moguls, and today some ruins remain. The Timurids and their successors, the Moguls, have kinship relations with the Pashtun tribes of Abdali Durrani and later Yusufzai. The daughter-in-law of Ahmad Khan Abdali (the wife of

Timur Shah Durrani Timur Shah Durrani (; ;), also known as Timur Shah Abdali or Taimur Shah Abdali (December 1746 – 20 May 1793) was the second ruler of the Afghan Durrani Empire, from November 1772 until his death in 1793. An ethnic Pashtun, he was the second e ...

) was the daughter of

Alamgir II Mirza Aziz-ud-Din Muhammad (June 6, 1699 – November 29, 1759), better known by his regnal name Alamgir II, was the fifteenth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor from 1754 to 1759. He was the son of Jahandar Shah. Born Mirza Aziz-ud-Din, the secon ...

. According to some historians, the palace seems to have been renovated by

Zaman Shah Durrani Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali ( Persian: ; 1767 – 1844) was the third King of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. An ethnic Pashtun of the Sadozai clan, Zaman Shah was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timu ...

in 1795 (1210 AH), which was subsequently destroyed in military conflicts, and the ruins from ancient times remain. Foreign soldiers of

ISAF The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386 according to the Bonn Agreement, which outlined t ...

have documented ruins of the former castle. The new palace was constructed in the 1920s to house the Afghan royal family. The Swedish memoir writer Aurora Nilsson (also known as ''Rora Asim Khan''), who lived in Afghanistan with her Afghan husband in 1926–27, describes in her memoirs how she was invited to the palace by Queen Soraya to describe Western lifestyle and customs to the Queen and the King's mother.Rora Asim Khan (Aurora Nilsson): Anders Forsberg and Peter Hjukström: ''Flykten från harem'', Nykopia, Stockholm 1998. . On December 27, 1979, the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

launched its intervention in Afghanistan. That evening, the Soviet military launched Operation Storm-333, in which some 700 troops, including 54

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

spetsnaz SpetsnazThe term is borrowed from rus, спецназ, p=spʲɪtsˈnas; abbreviation for or 'Special Purpose Military Units'; or () are special forces in many post-Soviet states. Historically, this term referred to the Soviet Union's Spet ...

special forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

troops from the Alpha Group and Zenith Group, stormed the Palace and killed PDPA general secretary

Hafizullah Amin Hafizullah Amin (Dari/; 1 August 192927 December 1979) was an Afghan communist head of state, who served in that position for a little over three months, from September 1979 until his assassination. He organized the Saur Revolution of 1978 and ...

, who had resided there since December 20. During the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War took place in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from December 1979 to February 1989. Marking the beginning of the 46-year-long Afghan conflict, it saw the Soviet Union and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic o ...

it served as the

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

of the Soviet 40th Army. The palace was severely damaged in the years after the

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan Pursuant to the Geneva Accords of 14 April 1988, the Soviet Union conducted a total military withdrawal from Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghanistan between 15 May 1988 and 15 February 1989. Headed by the Soviet military officer Boris ...

, when different

Afghan mujahideen The Afghan ''mujahideen'' (; ; ) were Islamist militant groups that fought against the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and the Soviet Union during the Soviet–Afghan War and the subsequent Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), First Afghan Ci ...

factions fought for control of Kabul after the fall of PDPA leader

Mohammad Najibullah Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai (6 August 1947 – 27 September 1996) was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as the second president of Afghanistan from 1987 until his resignation in April 1992, shortly after the Afghan mujahideen' ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

-backed government in 1992. The Afghan government, in conjunction with the German government, drafted plans for renovating the palace for official use, requiring funds from private donations from wealthy Afghans. These plans were on indefinite hold as the Afghan government sought to establish peace and stability. A similar plan was approved for the nearby

Darul Aman Palace Darul Aman Palace (; ; 'Abode of Peace' or, in a double meaning, 'Abode of Aman llah) is a three-story palace located in Darulaman locality, about south-west of the center of Kabul, Afghanistan. Surrounding the palace are the following buildin ...

which was completely renovated and opened to the public on Afghan Independence Day, August 2019. In 2021, the palace had been completely rebuilt.

Gallery

Tajbeg Palace, Kabul - panoramio.jpg, Tajbeg Palace in 2012 Tajbeg Palace, Darulaman, Kabul - panoramio.jpg, Bird's eye view of the palace in 2012 The ruined 'Queen's Palace',Kabul -e.jpg, The ruined palace Queens Palace (5300182685).jpg, The ruined palace Дворец со стороны правого крыла 27 12 79.jpg, Photograph of the palace's west side during the Soviet assault on 27 December 1979 Dvorec 27 12 79.jpg, The palace one day after the assault

References

External links

Darulaman.de

Qasr-e Taj Beg
{{coord, 34, 27, 17.38, N, 69, 6, 48.04, E, display=title Palaces in Afghanistan Buildings and structures in Kabul Province Houses completed in the 20th century Royal residences in Afghanistan Ruined palaces 1920s establishments in Afghanistan

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links