Sadiq Garh Palace (Urdu: صادق گڑھ پیلس) is a 19th‑century princely complex in Dera Nawab Sahib, southern Punjab, Pakistan.[1] It served as the winter seat of the Abbasi rulers of the former Bahawalpur State.[2] Covering roughly 125 acres behind ramparts 50 feet high, it was once among the largest private estates in South Asia.[3]
History
Sadiq Garh Palace was commissioned by Sadiq Muhammad Khan IV in 1882 and was finished in 1895 after a decade of construction supervised by Italian engineers.[3] According to some reports, some 15 000 labourers worked for ten years and Rs 1.5 million were spent to complete the palace and its outbuildings.[4]
During the princely era, the estate expanded to include three subsidiary mahals, Mubarak, Rahat and Sadiq, linked by tunnels as well as a private powerhouse, cinema, and armoury.[4] The darbar hall displayed retired Ghilaf‑e‑Kaaba covers produced in Bahawalpur and hosted audiences for British viceroys and other dignitaries.[2]
In the mid‑1970s, the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sealed the property amid a dispute with one branch of the Abbasi family, and decades of litigation concluded only in 2005 when the Supreme Court of Pakistan divided the estate among twenty‑three heirs.[2]
Architecture
Sadiq Garh Palace on the Stamp of Bahawalpur State
The main block presents a symmetrical white façade surmounted by a central ribbed dome flanked by four smaller cupolas.[4] Inside are about 120 large rooms, each pair decorated to evoke the decorative arts of a different country for the Nawab's foreign guests.[2] Teak staircases, two early hydraulic elevators and vaulted basements link the three floors to underground passages reputed to reach other royal compounds.[1]
Condition and conservation
Long periods of governmental sequestration allowed extensive theft of antiques, furniture and a fleet of Rolls‑Royce automobiles that once made the palace famous.[3] In 2024, sewage from a collapsed municipal drain submerged the main gate.[5]
