Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial

The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial is a museum and exhibition centre dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at Moti Shahi Mahal, located in Shahibaug, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, near Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad. Moti Shahi Mahal was constructed by the Mughal emperor Shahjahan between 1618 and 1622. It is surrounded by a garden.HistoryThe palace was built in 1622 by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1616-1622) to give work to the poor during a season of scarcity. The Shahibaug gardens of the palace were in the seventeenth century famous, the resort of the whole city, and one of its chief ornaments. A century and a half later (1781), though the well was in ruins and the fountains and water-courses broken, the gardens could still boast of some noble cypresses, cedars, palms, sandals, and cassias, with mango, tamarind, and other spreading fruit trees. Besides the gardens, there was, a little beyond, an older garden called the Andhari Badi, or dark garden, with large ruins. The palace, always kept in good repair, is thus described by Forbes in 1781: At a little distance from the royal mansion, on the bank of the Sabarmati river, with separate gardens, baths and fountains, was the zanana or ladies' palace. In 1638 the Shahi Baug was very large, shut in by a great wall with ditches full of water, a beautiful house, and very rich rooms. In 1666 Thevenot found the King's garden full of all kinds of trees. The road lay through an avenue like those in Paris. The garden was very large or rather there were several gardens rising like an amphitheatre. There were four wonderful walks fringed, on either side right across the garden, by a terrace full of flowers and meeting in the form of a cross, where was a great building with a roof covered with green tiles.