Save Our Heritage : Maqbara Murshid Zadi, Qaiserbagh, Lucknow

Maqbara of Murshid Zadi, a monument with a mesmerising architectural design is not hard to miss when one passes through Qaiserbagh. This mausoleum is an epitome of love, built in the year 1824, by son Nawab Ghazi-ud-din Haider for his mother Begum Murshid Zadi. Adjacent to the tomb of Nawab Saadat Ali Khan lies the tomb of his wife Begum Murshid Zadi. This monument happens to be on a lush green lawn which somehow makes it more welcoming to visit. It comprises of minarets, turrets and a huge dome which altogether adorn the monument and make the people at a distance aware of it’s existence. As the mausoleum is built in Indo-Islamic form of architecture, its dome has an inverted guldasta over it. The arched doors and windows provide a gateway to equivalently stunning architecture.The outer walls of the structure has brilliant stucco work done upon it and the floors are chequered with black and white marbles. ‘This structure was built with lakhauri bricks and locally available mortar. Had it been built with white marble, it would have surpassed the beauty of Taj Mahal’, states the eminent historian Mr. Roshan Taqui.

Tomb of Mushid Zadi was built in the year 1824,10 years after the death of Nawab Saadat Ali Khan. It’s really dispiriting to see the present state of such a howling monument. Now-a-days its condition is devolving into the form of crumbling plasters, broken pointed rod at its peak, dull-blackened walls and bad shape of the lawn surrounding it.

Credit : Intern – Divya Suri