Bada-Imambara - My Visit at Lucknow...

To change the subject of my blogs, I hereby introduce some travel. :) Recently, I visited Lucknow and there I visited Bada-Imambara, one of the beautiful historical monument. So, here's what it is all about!

Bada-Imambara is a four-storey building where each floor is very much different from the other one. It is neither a mosque, nor a mausoleum, but a huge building having interesting elements within it. The construction of the halls and the use of vaults show a strong Islamic influence.



The Bada Imambada is, in fact, a great hall built at the end of a spectacular courtyard approached through two magnificent triple-arched gateways. This columnless hall has been an architectural marvel since 1784, with the interior length of 49.4 m and width of 16.2 m. The ceiling is more than 15 m high. The hall is Asia's largest without any external support of wood, iron, or stone beams. What leaves the visitor astonished is the construction of the roof. It is said to be 16 feet thick and weighs nearly 20,000 tons.

There are three halls under the same roof namely, China Dish, Persian Hall and Kharbooja Hall, also called as Indian Hall.

The China Hall is square at ground level, becomes octagonal at mid-height, and 16 sided at the top. At those top, queen used to come so that no one can see the queen and queen can see everyone.




The Persian Hall is the central hall simply astonishing in proportions. The Persian Hall carries Tazia which is the model of Karbala. There are two such models. One model is made of silver and the other one is changed every year.





The Kharbooja Hall or the India Hall has been fashioned like a watermelon. These are only minor structural variations.



The roof, common to these halls, is flat and in one piece. The Persian architect, Kifait-ullah supervised this unique architectural extravaganza. The acoustics are equally marvelous. Even the slightest whisper can be heard at the other corner of the hall. Light a matchstick and you can hear the sound across the length of the hall. So, all the windows at the top is the first floor of the Imambara.

Coming to the second floor, the walls of the second floor are such that the voice or even the whispers at one corner of the building can be heard in the entire floor. This also gave rise to the saying, "Deewaro ke bhi kaan hote hai."

Third floor is the famous bhool-bhulaiya or the labyrinth. At every confusing set of stairs, there are three set where two are wrong and one is right. So, one wrong turn and you are done to get lost in bhool-bhulaiya :). One of the most amazing thing about the architecture is that the whole support for the building is hollow and is made of sugarcane juice, jaggery and udat daal.

Fourth floor is the rooftop. From the terrace one can have a snapshot of Lucknow city. The terrace gives a grand view of old Lucknow with numerous mosques and minarets on the horizon.


So, thats the famous Bada-Imambada of Lucknow. Hope you enjoyed the tour of the same. :)