Kathmandu - Singha Durbar 
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The Singha Durbar was built in record time (one year) in 1903 by the then Prime Minister Chandra Shamsher Rana at a cost of 2.5 million rupees. When completed it was the largest private residence in Asia, a vast palace comprising 17 courts and 1700 rooms.
The Durbar's monumental façade echoed the style of European Historicism, its outward magnificence matched by the sumptuous furnishings within. The reception rooms, so a visitor recalled, were "as full of stuffed animals as a natural history museum" and the large audience chamber glittered with light from a distorting mirror brought from England by Jung Bahadur. The last of the Ranas is said to have employed a staff of 1500 to maintain the palace.
In 1951 Singha Durbar became the seat of Nepal's new government but in 1973 the rear of the palace was set on fire by political opponents. With the blaze fanned by a monsoon storm and flames spreading rapidly, a decision was made to blow up the middle section to safeguard the façade. The imposing front seen today is thus no more than a decorative veneer, a mere glimmer of the former splendor of the Rana dynasty.
The Durbar's monumental façade echoed the style of European Historicism, its outward magnificence matched by the sumptuous furnishings within. The reception rooms, so a visitor recalled, were "as full of stuffed animals as a natural history museum" and the large audience chamber glittered with light from a distorting mirror brought from England by Jung Bahadur. The last of the Ranas is said to have employed a staff of 1500 to maintain the palace.
In 1951 Singha Durbar became the seat of Nepal's new government but in 1973 the rear of the palace was set on fire by political opponents. With the blaze fanned by a monsoon storm and flames spreading rapidly, a decision was made to blow up the middle section to safeguard the façade. The imposing front seen today is thus no more than a decorative veneer, a mere glimmer of the former splendor of the Rana dynasty.
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