Stained glass windows, a sweeping staircase and embellished interiors make Mohatta Palace a gem in Karachi, a Pakistani megacity of 20 million people. Peacocks roam the lawn and the sounds of construction and traffic melt away as visitors enter the grounds.
Peacocks roam on the lawn of historical building “Mohatta Palace,” which was built in 1920s and has since been turned into a museum, in Karachi , Pakistan, Friday, May 24, 2024. A worker moves a peacock from the lawn of historical building “Mohatta Palace,” which was built in 1920s and has since been turned into a museum, in Karachi , Pakistan, Friday, May 24, 2024.
The building’s trustees have fended off an attempt to turn it into a dental college, but there’s still a decadeslong lawsuit in which heirs of a former owner are trying to take control of the land. It sat empty for almost two decades before formally opening as a museum in 1999. For most Pakistanis, the palace is the closest they’ll get to the architectural splendor of India’s Rajasthan, because travel restrictions and hostile bureaucracies largely keep people in either country from crossing the border for leisure, study or work.
Mohatta Palace is a symbol of that diversity. Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta had it built in the 1920s because he wanted a coastal residence for his ailing wife to benefit from the Arabian Sea breeze. Hundreds of donkey carts carried the distinctively colored pink stone from Jodhpur, now across the border in India., when India and Pakistan were carved from the former British Empire as independent nations, and for a time the palace was occupied by the Foreign Ministry.
The darkened and empty palace, with its overgrown gardens and padlocked gates, caught people’s imagination. Rumors spread of spirits and supernatural happenings.“As a child I used to rush past,” she said. “I was told it was a bhoot bungalow and warned, don’t go there.” The palace is rented out for corporate and charitable events. Local media report that residents grumble about traffic and noise levels.
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