About

Bara Imambara is undoubtedly the best-known heritage structure in Lucknow. An Imambara is a place or a building with a hall where people assemble for "Majlis" (Mourning Congregations) of Imam Husain and Martyrs of Karbala. Imambaras are not mosques, which are meant for prayers. While the primary purpose of building the Imambara was to provide a Majlis hall for the devout, the timing of its construction (1784-1791) served a Keynesian purpose in providing employment to people at the time of the great famine of Gangetic India.

The Bara Imambara is in the Husainabad area of Lucknow, on the western side of the city, along the right bank of the Gomti river. A grand three-arched entrance gateway leads to the Imambara complex. It opens to a large circular garden beyond which is a second three-arched entrance gateway, which is accessed through a flight of broad steps. On passing through the gateway, one comes upon a large courtyard with the Asafi Mosque on the west, the Shahi Baoli on the east, and the Imambara building itself on the south.

The Imambara was built during the reign of Nawab Asaf-ud-daula, and was designed by architect Kifayatullah. It stands on a raised platform. The Imambara is a three-storeyed structure with seven arched openings in the façade, and three halls. The main hall of the Imambara is a large vaulted chamber measuring 49.71m x 16.6m, and rises to a maximum height of 14.95m, while the two halls flanking it on the east (Chinese Hall) and west (Persian Hall) are about 21m each, with domed ceilings. A flat roof of this size without supporting columns is a remarkable aspect of the architecture of the Imambara. The Imambara is built with Lakhauri bricks, laid in mortar made of lime, surki (trass), jaggery and bael fruit (wood apple) pulp, in addition to other ingredients such as urad ki daal (paste of vigna mungo pulse). The interiors are decorated with elaborate stucco work. There are a number of grand chandeliers in the main chamber. There are eight surrounding chambers built to different roof heights, permitting the space above these to be reconstructed as a three-dimensional labyrinth.

Inside the halls, lie the graves of Nawab Asaf-ud-daula, and his wife, Shams-un-nissa Begum. The architect, Kifayatullah, is also buried within the Imambara. The access to the upper storey is through an entrance on the eastern side of the main structure. The upper floors are commonly referred to as the “Bhool Bhulaiya”, a labyrinth with 489 identical doorways.

The Asafi mosque is a beautiful three-domed structure about 61m wide and 23m deep, with an open courtyard of about 14m depth in front of the mosque. It has a facade of eleven arches, with the central arch being higher and provided with an unusually high doorway which rises above the roof.

The Naubat Khana which stands across the street from the outer gateway is decorated with a number of chhajjas, arches, and the fish motif.

The Rumi Darwaza is an 18m tall gateway that serves as the western entrance to the Bara Imambara. It was modeled after the Bab-i-Humayun Gateway in Istanbul. The design consists of a big arch and on top of that, there is a half-spherical dome resting on half-octagonal plan. There are three-storeyed, octagonal, receding towers at each end of the gateway. A tower area on top of the structure previously housed a large lantern used to illuminate the tower at night.

The Hussainabad Baradari is a 2-storeyed red sandstone building, with a large tank in front of it. There is a wrap-around pillared corridor on the upper floor. It was earlier used as an office building. A collection of life-sizes paintings of Nawabs of Lucknow, painted by European painters, and an eclectic collection of photographs is now housed in the main hall on the second floor.

The Clock Tower was built by the British in 1881 where the Daulat Khana of Asaf-ud-Daulah earlier existed. It is a 67 metre high Tower designed by Roskell Bayne in the Victorian Gothic style. It has a 14-foot-long pendulum and a dial in the shape of a 12-petalled flower. The construction of this Clock Tower was funded by the Hussainabad Endowment Trust.

The Satkhanda was built as a watchtower in 1842. It stands to the west of the tank in front of the Hussainabad Baradari. It was initially designed to have seven floors, but it has only four floors. It has many huge triple-arched windows and compartments. A flight of spiral steps leads to different storeys of the building.

The Chhota Imambara stands about a kilometer west of the Bara Imambara. It was built by Muhammad Ali Shah, the Nawab of Awadh in 1838. The Nawab and his mother are buried in the Imambara. The significance of Panjetan, the holy five, is emphasized with five main doorways. It has a gilded dome and several turrets and minarets. This Imambara consists of two halls and a platform where the replica of the protective grill kept on the grave of Imam Husain at Karbala, Iraq. The crown of Muhammad Ali Shah and ceremonial tazias are also located inside the central hall. The large green and white bordered central hall is richly decorated with chandeliers and a number of crystal glass lamp-stands. This profuse decoration of lights earned the Imambara the sobriquet of The Palace of Lights. The exterior is very beautifully decorated with Quranic verses and calligraphy.
The complex includes the small and beautiful Hussainabad Mosque built on a high platform with two grand minarets on the edge of the platform, as well as the Tomb of Princess Asiya Begum on the west, and the symmetrical building on the east that was used as the treasury building.
Water supply for the fountains and the water bodies inside the imambara came directly from the Gomti River. A fish-shaped wind-vane stands just inside the main gate of the complex.

Construction of the Jama Masjid of Lucknow was started by Muhammad Ali Shah in 1839 and completed by his wife Queen Malika Jahan Sahiba in the year 1845, after his death. It is built with "Lakhauri" bricks and plastered with lime. It is decorated with coloured stucco motifs. It stands on a square terrace and has a rectangular prayer hall, with a magnificent facade of eleven arches. The central arch is higher and provided with an unusually high doorway which rises above the roof in a sharply pointed arch decorated in coloured stucco. The prayer hall is surmounted by three pear-shaped high double domes decorated with an inverted lotus on the top. It is flanked by two octagonal four-storeyed tapering minarets on either side, crowned by chhatris.
An Imambara known as Imambara Malika Jahan is also situated at the south of this mosque.

Trivia

The design commission of the Imambara was awarded through a competitive process. The winner was an architect named Kifayatullah, from Delhi. Kifayatullah is also lies buried in the main hall of the Imambara.