Permanent Pictorial Cancellation: Gol Ghar, Patna


The Golghar or Gol Ghar is a large granary located to the west of the Gandhi Maidan in Patna, capital of Bihar state, India. 
                      According to a contemporary inscription at its base, the Golghar in Patna was intended to be just the first of a series of  huge grain stores. In the end, however, no others were ever built. The granary was "part of a general plan … for the perpetual prevention of  famine in these provinces" ordered in 1784 by Warren Hastings, the then Governor-General of India. 
Built in the Stupa architecture, the building has a height of 29 m. It is pillar-less with a wall of thickness of 3.6 m at the base.  One can climb to the top of the Golghar via its 145-step spiral stairway. The spiral staircase was designed to facilitate the passage  of the workers who loaded and unloaded the grain in the granary, who had to carry grain-bags up one flight, deliver their load through 
a hole at the top, and descend the other stairs. The top of the Golghar presents a panoramic view of the city and the Ganges. 
 

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