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Palace

Nuwakot Palace

Nepal · 18th century

Founded
c. 1750
Heritage status
Tentative World Heritage Site
Location
Bidur
Coordinates
27.91376°, 85.16475°
Links
Wikimedia Commons
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Nuwakot Palace in Nepal
Photo: Wimbex · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Nuwakot Palace is a palace built by Nepal's first king Prithvi Narayan Shah in the 18th century and is located in Nuwakot, Bidur Municipality.

The palace is currently being restored after the April 2015 Nepal earthquake which devastated the complex. Nuwakot Palace is currently listed as a UNESCO tentative site since 2008.

The current main palace was built after Prithivi Narayan Shah conquered Nuwakot in 1801 BS (1744–1745). After the victory of Nuwakot, he relocated the capital from Gorkha to Nuwakot considering it to an appropriate location for the continuation of unification campaign.

The palace has seven stories and thus is also called 'Sat-talle-durbar' (lit. seven storied palace) by locals. The ground floor was built to keep courtiers and guards. The main meeting room (Baitakh), prayer room and living room (called Shrinagar kakshya) is located on the first floor. The room for the king and queen is in the second floor. Third floor has a prayer room. Fourth floor was used to station armies and guards. Fifth and sixth floors were used as prison. King of Tanahu, Tri Bikaram Sen and Bal Narsingh of Kirtipir were imprisoned here. And the seventh floor was used as Burja. The roof uses glazed tile.

The plinth area of the place is 84 feet by 36 feet. The main door of the palace faces towards east. The palace is built in the form of fort with a wall thickness of 6 feet. Carved windows (Aankhi jhyal) are placed in various floors. The palace imitates the architecture style of Kathmandu. Craftsmen from Lalitpur were used to construct the palace.

On south-east side of the main palace lies the Ranga Mahal (lit. theatre). It was constructed in 1726 as the annex of the main palace. The kings of Kathmandu valley also used it for entertainment when they arrived Nuwakot.

On eastern side of the main palace lies a guard house (Nepali: Garad Ghar) where armed force and ammunitions were stationed.

On the north-east side, there is a house of King Rana Bahadur Shah. This was built in 1795. This building was turned in rubbles by 1957. The building was reconstructed in the time of King Mahendra.

Lampati which used to be the palace of Patan's king is located adjacent to the Bhairavi temple. It has two floors with glazed tile in the roof. Currently, this palace is used as a museum.

This temple is located 200m south of the main palace.

Text adapted from “Nuwakot Palace” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Nuwakot Palace ranks #6,635 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #8 of the 8 mapped in Nepal. Founded c. 1750, it is older than 17% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 757 atlas entries founded in the 18th century. The nearest day-trip guide is Kathmandu, 27 km away. See how Nepal compares in the castle statistics.

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