Shahi Bagh
Ahmedabad, India
Shahi Bagh (Royal Garden) is a garden-palace complex in Ahmedabad. It is situated on the bank of the Sabarmati just north of the old city center in the neighborhood of Shahibaug, which takes its name from the same garden. Mughal prince Khurram, who would become emperor Shah Jahan, commissioned the garden during his tenure as governor of Ahmedabad between 1616-1623/1025-1032 AH. 

While the garden has mostly disappeared under the surrounding city, written sources tell us that it once stretched from the left bank of the Sabarmati southward toward the city gates, and was surrounded by an enclosure walls. It included waterways and fountains as well as a tank for collecting rainwater. 

The architectural centerpiece of the garden is a pavilion that was known as Moti Shahi Mahal. The pavilion rises two stories high, with third story towers over the front (southern) entrance. Below the building are cellars called tah-khanas that were used to keep cool during the summer months. This building was renovated in the nineteenth century to become a residence for a British civil servant. Today the site functions as a memorial to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the 1st Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1947 - 1950.

Sources:

Burgess, James. The Muhammadan Architecture of Ahmadabad. Part II. London: W. Griggs and Sons, 1905.
Location
Ahmedabad, India
Images & Videos
Associated Names
Events
ca. 1620/1030 AH
Style Periods
1526-1858
Variant Names
شاهى باغ
Original
Shah-i-Bagh
Alternate transliteration
Building Usages
landscape