May

Situated initially within 84 acres of rare plants, trees and flowers, with a boundary wall and a moat, this palace garden was built during Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s time. In the middle of the garden, Ranjit Singh built himself a luxurious two-storied Summer Palace, which cost Rs. 125,000.

Apartments were constructed in its cool underground for use during the hot weather. The grounds were encircled by solid masonry walls some fourteen feet high, while outside the wall was a moat filled with water from the Hansli Canal. Its campus till today comprises of the summer palace of the Maharaja, lodges, deoris, corner bastions, and the royal hamam, among other structures.

The British converted the surrounding clusters of structures, around the summer palace into clubs and libraries and reorganized the landscape considerably by introducing elements such as a circular road and later tennis courts within the quadripartite garden space. In recent times the historic buildings were put to uses which were not appropriately responsive to the historic and cultural values of the complex.

The western structure was being used as an office of civil defense and the northern structure as the office of a club. The scope of the project is to remove incompatible uses, conserve the historic buildings and reorganize and landscape the open space as an ‘Anglo Sikh Garden’. Contractor: Mr. Jaspal Singh.

Title of Project Historic building conservation Summer Palace, Rambagh Garden, Amritsar, District Amritsar Owner Municipal Corporation, Amritsar, the complex is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India Funding Agency Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, through THE PUNJAB HERITAGE AND TOURISM PROMOTION BOARD, Government of Punjab Caretakers Not Available Year of Commencement 2007 Year of Completion 2010