Bagh-e Bala Palace

The Bagh-e Bala Palace (Dari: قصر باغ بالا کابل) is a former royal palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. It is located at a hilltop in the Bagh-e Bala (High Garden) park near Karte Parwan. The palace has a large pool (added in the 1970s) and is surrounded by pine trees.[1]

Postage stamp showing the Bagh-e Bala Palace
Aerial view of the palace and gardens around it

History

It was built by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan in 1893 as a place for him to spend summers in, and he later died there in 1901.[2] It was then used as a castle under Emir Habibullah Khan, and then as a guesthouse.

In 1919 it housed the National Museum of Afghanistan before the collection was moved elsewhere, and the palace became a military house under King Ghazi Amanullah Khan. After being abandoned by 1930, it was renovated and turned into a restaurant under King Zahir Shah in the 1960s.[3][4]

The palace survived the civil war of the 1990s. It was renovated again in the 2000s and 2010s, with its interior preserved to look like the original 19th century design,[5][6][7] but it is currently not in official use.

The area around the palace (Bagh-e Bala) has become a large public park. American historians Nancy and Louis Dupree married here in 1966.[8]

  • Bagh-e Bala visible in the distance (2006)
  • Bagh-e Bala visible in the distance (1890s)

See also

References
  1. "Tourism in Afghanistan - Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan". mfa.gov.af.
  2. "Bagh-e-Bala Pavilion, Kabul". Archived from the original on 2018-01-21. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  3. "Bagh-e-Bala Palace regains its colors".
  4. "Zahra Breshna Consulting - Architects + Urban Planners - Kabul - Berlin". www.breshna-consulting.com. Zahra Breshna Consulting. 2009.
  5. "- Baghe Bala". gallery.afghanculturalheritage.org. Archived from the original on 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
  6. "Bagh-e-Bala Restaurant - Wikimapia". wikimapia.org.
  7. "Bagh-e-Bala Palace regains its colors".
  8. The Best American Magazine Writing 2015 by The American Society of Magazine Editors

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