Anyone Visited These Places In Punjab

[S1ngh]

I really wanna know bit details (like who controls/own them and can we visit these places?)

Batala- Sher Singh palace

Patiala Qila Mubarack

[Blissful Sikh]

I really wanna know bit details (like who controls/own them and can we visit these places?)

Batala- Sher Singh palace

Patiala Qila Mubarack

Such is the beautiful artwork of the Sat Guru Ji, the creator!

I can't wait to hear more about these places.

[caveman]

just in case someone wonders what the place is, heres some history

http://patiala.nic.in/html/history.htm

[apnepart2]

i know about the first place (Sher singhs residence). It is located inside a christian college in Batala Gurdaspur. The building is in very bad condition. The land is on lease to the Christian college, it is the same college where Mr. Mc-leod taught for some time. All christian missionaries in punjab visit this college once. The building belongs to Punjab Govt. and is on lease to christian college management. In front of the building there is a very prominent church about 100 years old. The college adminstration uses Sher Singh's palace as main office. They paint and renovate the church every year but don't do anything for the palace building. They say it is the property of govt. therefore the responisibility is on the govt. not us. This building has been greatly modified for office use and is falling down and according to my prediction will vanish after 100 years.

[S1ngh]

Any idea when the lease of this building expires? I am sure its probably more than 50 years since the college took the building.

[asmlondon]

Any idea when the lease of this building expires? I am sure its probably more than 50 years since the college took the building.

The Sher Singh palace is in a pretty poor state and is difficult (if not impossible) to gain access to. As a previous commentator on this site just said, it is a victim of Punjabi officialdom and the bureaucracy seems to be paralysed with inaction becuase that is easier to do nothing than actually saving this building. You will know that there are precious few (if any) buildings from the period of Ranjit Singh that are left intact within East Punjab. These two stories illustrate the history and the importance of this building:

http://www.punjabheritage.org/content/view/765/32/

http://www.punjabheritage.org/content/view/359/32/

The second building is the Qila Mubarak in Patiala. I visited this last in 2002 so it has been some years, but the building is truly one of the most important fortress palaces of the entire sub-continent. It also happens to be architecturally one of the very few truly Sikh buildings left in existance. MOst other truly Sikh forts have been destroyed pretty systematically over the years. It had been undergoing quite serious and very well funded restoration whilst Amrinder Singh was CM (not a huge surprise) but this stopped when the politics changed. I am not sure just how accessible it is now- perhaps someone else can let us all know. I have been inside the fortress a number of times and each time I have had to either lie, bribe or sneak my way in or use some personal connection to gain access.

It's a scandalous situation where Punjabis are not given access to the most remarkable pieces of our heritage and we have to bribe or use political muscle to get into these places.

I hope this helps.

aman

[apnepart2]

Any idea when the lease of this building expires? I am sure its probably more than 50 years since the college took the building.

I think the lease has already expired and the college was to be or should have been re-named as Maharaja Sher Singh College, as per lease agreement. But it didn't happen due to vote bank politics as Batala has more reserve population then general and most are christians. Also i am not so sure about this lease and re-naming story as i heard this from someone long time back.

[Sarbat da Pala]

I am comming from Batal (next to batala a pind), and there were a lot of old palaces like that. But they are all broken and in a very bad situation. Nobdy is taking care of them.

Next time I am there, i will visit this place. I never knew that this is Maharaja Sher Singhs castel. There is also a Place of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

We should keep them. Because Punjab and the history of Punjab is very old and interesting for tourists. But mostly we duno our history...